Author: Steve Pohlit

Managing Partner Time To Be Great, LLC Global Independent Distributor Healy, Vollara, Xelliss, BEMER Business and Real Estate Coach, Consultant Professional Speaker, Author

Business Expert Takes Exception T0 Small Business Advice Published by WSJ

The question raised by the Wall Street Journal to 5 consulting experts  was what advice do you have for small business owners trying to survive in this economy. For the complete article please click on the following link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122243729863478905.html

It has been my experience working with a large number of clients in retail (apparel, restaurants, convenient stores, drug stores, automotive, motorcycles,general merchandise), manufacturing, distribution and construction clients that very few have an effective revenue building process in place as well as disciplined  management control system. None of these points were printed by the WSJ. In all fairness to the consultants interviewed, I know editors do not always write what is said and what is said can be taken out of context.

The following are my comments posted at the Wall Street Journal with additional points for clarification in parenthesis.

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It is rare for advisers to focus on the opportunities for growing revenue and in most cases the opportunities are huge. There are proven tools and techniques that are often ignored. (The tools I was referring to are : specific plan to grow the profitability of existing customers, direct mail, email marketing and the effective integration of a website, blog and video)  Companies do not survive long term with a “cut costs mentality”. When a business is run with the right management system there really should be very few costs to cut in the first place. If there are, then take action right now and strengthen the controls that allowed that spending to occur in the first place.

Focus on asset management is always essential and particularly true in a weakening economy. A company with receivables and inventory should spend more time addressing and implementing actions to minimize the risks of not collecting amounts due and for resolving any slow moving inventory.  (I always guide business owners with AR and Inventory to establishing the right credit policies and buying practices to begin with then have a disciplined monitoring system in place.)

The advice to tie a percentage of non-sales related employee compensation is generally theoretical except for executives and management.   (I am an advocate of pay for performance particularly for the higher paying positions in the business.) As for Lines of credit, it is true there is increasing risk of those being cut or eliminated. There is also a risk that bank debt will be accelerated particularly if there are areas of debt covenant non-compliance. If credit is key to company operations, an aggressive evaluation of all means to strengthen liquidity is needed and that process should already be in place. If not, begin today.  (Surprisingly liquidity management is often much weaker in most companies that one would expect. This is normally the first step in any consulting engagement where increased business performance is the goal.)

Bottom line advice: general guidance provides a framework for the enhancement of a detailed control system specifically designed to strengthen revenue, profits and liquidity.

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Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance

Steve Pohlit,  www.StevePohlit.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: Follow me on Twitter

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871

Failed Financial Bailout and The Responsibility of Business Owners and Executives

You already know the failure of the $700 billion bailout bill triggered a 777 point drop on the DOW.  CNN reports that the markets lost  $1.3 trillion dollars of value in one day.  I didn’t double check their math.  Let’s just say it was a big decline.

There will be plenty of advice on this situation.  Unnamed top consultants cited in Forbes today already advised: “cut costs and grab the low hanging fruit”.  Thank you for that clear direction.  There will be  a lot more of similarly “valuable” advice in the coming weeks and months.

This is not a “what happened ” report or “who should take the blame” report. This is simply a Wake Up Call To Say – Stop Living A Life of Illusions!  Accept responsibility for your business.  Do the following today. In fact, implement these right now:

  • Take focused action to grow profits and sales every day.  Do not blame outside factors.  Every business works in the same marketplace. Define the five “A” areas of your business that drive profitable sales and spend 80% of your time on those.   That is four out of five days.
  • Treat your support network with respect and help them grow faster than your business since your business will follow the growth of your skills.  Your support network should be selected based on your personal weaknesses not your strengths.  Don’t go for clones.
  • Optimize all your assets including, people, receivables, inventory, fixed assets. Each one of these assets replace cash.  You need cash to grow.
  • Evaluate, decide then act.  You don’t need a two year study to enter a new market or even a new country. You can test it beginning now.  This is the “bias for action mindset”.
  • Treat all the same as you would like to be treated.  When someone does not treat you well ask yourself what you are doing to attract that behavior.  Yes that is exactly what I meant to write.

Each of these areas takes work to implement.  If you need help, Email Me (Steve Pohlit)  or call me at 727-587-7871

Consider This:

Some members of Congress  stood ground and said “it is not the government’s job”   or ” I am in favor of a solution, but this plan is not good for America.”  I don’t know their personal situation, but most likely some of them have personal money in mutual funds and stocks that got clobbered today by their vote.  How would you vote if you know your net worth would tank by your no vote?  Would you be able to vote your belief.  Actually I respect all who voted their belief system regardless of the vote.

Politically there are big issues on the agenda and people are lining up for what the government should do on a number of social issues.  The bigger question is whether the government should be involved in any of these social issues in the first place. It seems  to me our country was founded on the principle of independence – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I don’t recall anything that says that if we pursue happiness and experience unhappiness,  the government should bail us out.

If you don’t remember Enron, Google it.  Out of Enron came Sarbanes-Oxley.  That was the legislation designed to prevent another Enron.  I can show you Power Point slide where I pointed out that this was useless legislation. There already were laws for corporate governance in place. I was one of the few in the accounting and legal professions arguing against it.  It passed and the cost has exceeded the bailout that failed today.  That cost was paid for by consumers where the price of products and services had to absorb the cost of implementing Sarbanes-Oxley.  History teaches us a lot if we pay attention.  When I work with business consulting clients  I help them implement what I know to work from experience as adapted for the the individual differences of the client.  It works when the client pays attention and acts as guided.

Sarbanes-Oxley was designed to prevent a bailout from even having to be considered.  It didn’t and government legislation will never prevent transactions with little or no economic substance.  But we continue to live in an illusion that government can solve all of these issues.  It can’t and nor should it, because that is not the intention for our government.  ” We The People” are responsible.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance

Steve Pohlit,  www.StevePohlit.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: Follow me on Twitter

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871

The Truth About The Financial Markets and What Your Company Needs To Do Right Now

First Point: I do not know the truth of the reasons for or the extent of the weakness in the financial markets. Neither do financial news editors or anyone in the government.  

Second Point: Accept the fact that financial markets are in turmoil and consider some rational information. The following is an excerpt from an article published by  Marc Cenedella who owns The Ladders. It appears to me that what Marc writes is accurate and maybe it will help you understand the practical risks related to the liquidity for your business. Following Marc’s comments, I present a three step action plan for you.  Marc writes: 

” It came to a head last week.

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers caused one of the money-market funds – the “MMA” accounts that you might be sweeping your cash into in order to get a slightly higher return on your money – to “break the buck.” So your dollar invested in that particular money market was now worth only 97 cents. That is, the account that we all thought was safe turned out to be not safe.

As a result, reasonable people like you began, not surprisingly, to withdraw cash from MMAs and put it into super-safe investments like government bonds and gold. At one point during the week, some government notes were trading at a negative interest rate – that means people were willing to pay more than a dollar today to make sure they got back their dollar in thirty days!

Extraordinary times, indeed.

Because this “money market” has historically been very, very, very reliable, operating companies had come to depend on it for daily financings of really mundane stuff – buying inventory, financing payables, funding payroll. 

So with MMAs draining cash, the real operating companies of the country, from the Fortune 1000 to your local beer distributor, began to find that the funds they needed to operate their daily business were not there, or were priced with ludicrously high interest rates. As a result, real companies, not just those on Wall Street, were facing a dire situation.

By Thursday evening, it got so bad that Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke went to Capitol Hill to explain the situation to lawmakers. Senators present commented, they were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.” Another said: “History was sort of hanging over it, like this was a moment.”

In the absence of action, what we would have faced this week were real companies unable to do business. Unable to buy inventory, unable to pay their bills, unable to meet payroll.”

Steve Pohlit’s Three Step Action Plan Related To Your Company’s Liquidity:

1. Implement a daily liquidity (cash management)  “flash report” if you don’t already have that in place. This report gives you the status of all cash and near cash balances (typically inventory and receivables) along with short term liabilities. I advise using more than one financial institution as a depository for cash balances. 

2. If you have receivables and inventory in your business, you must develop a list of higher risk receivables and monitor those balances daily. Monitoring includes having a direct connect with the customers who owe you the money and a health report on their business. This same logic should be applied to critical path suppliers. Do not assume that any vendor can easily be replaced in this economic environment.

3. Take aggressive steps to move your business forward. Step up near term performance goals. One of the best tools I have seen work recently for on line marketing is the combination of an integrated website, blog and video. I am preparing a special package to help those companies not using these tools to get started right away. In the meantime if you are ready to move on this recommendation or need help with the about three action stops or more, please call me Steve Pohlit at 727-587-7871

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance

Steve Pohlit,  www.StevePohlit.com 

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: Follow me on Twitter

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871

Introducing YouTube Mastery and Blogging For Profits

The past four months I have been actively developing and testing video training for business. The test market has been and continues to be Facebook. The time line was about 90 days from idea to the point of being able to conduct valid live tests.  This time line was mostly due to the time for  my own personal development and I was moving a growing number of subscribers along the development path.

During this process I realized many questions continued to “bubble up” regarding blogs and what I recommended. In response I have now developed video training on how to set up a blog for business profits.  That video series is new and not as developed as YouTube Mastery.

The Three Steps For Optimum On Line Marketing Effectiveness Today :

This is my number one recommendation for all companies and is what I work on almost always as a first step in any consulting engagement:

1. Website
2. Related Blog
3. Focused Video Posted To 1 and 2

You must be doing all three for maximum effectiveness.

More clarity on those in a future article since of course I recommend building lists and SEO content. This is an article not a book. 🙂

For now the following is an announcement I recently sent to over 1100 members of my YouTube Mastery Group on Facebook and included a reference to Blogging For Profits.

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Welcome All New Members: Here is the latest video training. I stand firm on my position you will not find the value that is in this training anywhere at any price and YouTube Mastery continues to be FREE.

YouTube Mastery  How To Build Business Profits With Video 2

This is the continuation of the training  of  how to use what you have learned in the YouTube Mastery Series to help build your business. Of course there have been tips along the way. But now you look over my shoulders as I demonstrate how I am using video to further build the credibility of my consulting business.

Steve Pohlit shows two example of using the training taught in previous YouTube Master videos. The first two promote a business venture which is Dubli Auction Network at http://dublian.com The second is to help a client with marketing using video. The client is http://newhairlaser.com and the service is hair transplants.

http://dublian.com achieves number 1 position on Google search with video and http://newhairlaser.com receives 60 video views in 2 days worth nearly $300 in pay per click ads.

These are very successful examples and you can do the same.

Here is the link – Remember if you are registered at http://youtubemastery.net you have access to all the training videos in sequence. REGISTER NOW

http://youtubemastery.net/YouTube-Mastery-How-To-Build-Business-Profits-Wtih-Video-2.html

Steve Pohlit, President
International Business Consulting Resources
http://irconsultinginc.com

PS Want to know how to set up WordPress Blogs including cool templates and valuable plugins? Join Blogging for Profits  http://groups.to/blogging

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My Commitment:

My firm will implement known best practices relevant for your business. They will work while I am coaching you and your company.  You will receive the benefit of a  very high return on investment.  Best practices do not work on automatic.  If  you stop following what you learned  after project completion, then you can expect the benefits to stop as well.

If you know what to do – do it now!  If  you are not sure, call me, Steve Pohlit, direct at  727-587-7871

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance

Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working  Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871

The Most Valuable Advice For Making More Money For Your Business and You:

Recently I hosted a conference call with two experts in the self-development industry. The information developed and shared with the callers is direct lead to my professional advice for companies:

The Most Valuable Advice For Making More Money For Your Business and You:

Establish a very clear picture of where you want your business to be and then release the gap between that picture and your current reality.

The follow-on advice to this Actual (Current Reality) -Standard (Clear Picture of Your Goal) = Variance (The Gap) is that anytime somebody’s thought, words or actions attempts to destroy the picture you have created. For business the picture needs to include financial performance as well as company culture and lifestyle.  I have written and recorded videos on how to begin rolling back twelve month financial rates of performance to what has to be done this week to achieve those goals.

With the guidance and the track record in place to help most companies achieve extraordinary performance,  do you know what the one thought that is pervasive?  “Well things are bad right now and I don’t want to spend any money on help or doing anything different.”  Attitude is the most damaging gap.  Release the pessimistic attitude and open the door to the ideas and action that will move your business forward.

You have a choice.  Let external situations mandate your results or create your own reality.  Successful mindsets create successful results.

I am a big fan of Internet Marketers. I love the buzz they can create. The subject lines used to grab your attention and the sales copy are works of art.  Of course beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.  Great subject lines and great copy will always work because the copy appeals to our emotions.  The copy convinces us that when we buy a product or service we will have the life of our dreams.

My consulting practice does not promise you anything but this:

I will implement known best practices relevant for your business. They will work while I am coaching you and your company. You will receive the benefit of a  very high return on investment.  Best practices do not work on automatic. If  you stop following what you learned  after project completion, then you can expect the benefits to stop as well.

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

Steve Pohlit, Expert Business Consulting

Email Me, Steve Pohlit to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits.Need more customers? Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high. If  your company is not growing revenue and profits,  if your company is not cash flow positive Click Here for more information about Turnaround Consulting Services for Business In Crisis

Follow Me and I Follow You http://Twitter.com/BuildProfits

FREE Report:
How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less

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About: Steve Pohlit is a CPA,MBA and has been the CFO of several major domestic and international companies.  Steve is business owner and an expert business consultant, direct response and social media marketing  and social networking security expert . Steve is  focused on helping companies improve their business performance. All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Dubli Auction Network – Pay Attention To These SEO Results

Background:

Several months ago a gentleman living in Naples, Fl. called me and asked me to look at Dubli Auction Network, a business about to enter the US. I was not real interested in this pitch. However, there was something that suggested I take a closer look.

In retrospect I  know what caught my attention. The credibility of the caller and his partner Denise was the reason. More on that later. Here is what happened and the results to date:

1. I looked at the business that started in Europe and quickly realized it applealed to the auction market, which is huge, and to the casino market, also huge.
2. I felt the reverse auction offered by Dubli Auctions presented a unique marketing proposition.
3. Based on the evaluation of the first two points I concluded Dubli Auction Network was worth some of my time.

The Lessson In This  Story Is The Surprising Development of the Search Engine Position for Dubli Auction Network on Google.

My first test was to do a very simple web site to make sure I understood the opportunity for the consumer and the business opportunity associated with Dubli. None of the typical SEO techniques were used. Minimal thought to  keywords and descriptions.  The site is still very much like the original design and can be seen at www.dublian.com I was successful in having the primary keyword Dubli in the domain.  My idea for the domain was Dubli Auction Network or DubliAN   and so it was.

At this point nothing unusual. I was simply using my Dubli Auction Network site as a reference point in my discussions with my friends Alfred and Denise in Naples.  Then while developing www.youtubemastery.net I thought it would be a great idea to  add a  video to my Dubli Auction Network site and I did that.

Denise called two days later and asked me if I was aware of my site being on the first page of Google. I had not. When I  looked and called her and said I was in the number one position … a first with other than my own name on Google search.  The video had captured the attention of the keyword Dubli Auction

As I write this, my site has two out of the top 4 positions for Dubli Auction.  I view this experience as a powerful demonstration of the value of video for SEO. I have more examples but this one should get your engines started. Go to Google.com and enter Dubli Aucton in your search . Look at the postioning of http://dublian.com

This Is Not About Video!
This Is Not About The Consumer Market for Dubli Auction Network!
This is Not About The Business Opportunity With  Dubli Auction Network

This Is About How To Use The Lastest Tools For Helping Your Business. These tools include SEO, YouTube Mastery, Blogging For Profits.. and more all linked to an integrated marketing strategy. Can You Do This Yourself?  Absolutely?  If you want to accelerate your results with my help call 727-587-7871.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance

Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: MySpace: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Fear of Failure, Recession, Bankruptcy … More: The Law of Attraction Is Always Working

Are you one of the hundreds of millions who check the papers, TV, radio or Internet to see how things are going?  Do you decide on how you are feeling by what you read or others talk about?  Do you think the information we receive about our economy, the world, our health, our relationships is the truth or someone’s opinion of reality?

Recently a friend invited me to a restaurant for diner and the owner introduced himself and his wife. His name is Richard.  Richard discovered,  because he asked, that I had some experience with business.  He wondered what I felt about our economy. I said that I didn’t understand why so many perfectly intelligent people decided they were agreeing we were in a recession.  A few reporters decided some numbers suggested that and all of a sudden an entire nation is feeling bad.

I relayed some of my experiences.  I have worked with companies struggling in what reporters labeled boom times. I have also worked with companies doing extremely well in periods labeled as declining, recessionary and so on.  I feel the difference in doing well and not doing well is what we think about, our experience managing changing circumstances and knowing when to request help.

My firm International Resources (www.IRConsultingInc.com) is successful helping companies large and small improve business performance. Nothing is ever stagnant so we work with management so they are better prepared to benefit from positive trends as well as reverse negative one.  If you feel your business could be doing a lot better but you are not sure how to prioritize and structure your company for much higher profits, call me and let’s discuss it.  I am Steve Pohlit and my direct number is 727-587-7871.

If you think about those times when nothing seemed like it could go wrong, how did you feel?  Going deeper what did you think about?  Did your attention give rise to more success or not? In general, I would guess that the upward spiral continued and if you are not in that state now it is because you heard you should be doing worse and feeling bad.

Remember the downward slides?  Maybe you feel you are in one of them now.  You probably recognize that it is your mood that is making the biggest difference.  Look out around you. What do you see? Doom and gloom or prosperity? I feel you see what it is that you want to validate.  if you want to feel that many other people are enjoying their work and their lives, that is what you will see. You can also experience the reverse.

The mood of lenders is restrictive. The mood of  many business leaders is cautious. There is no upside to a corporate or financial institution employee taking any risks right now. Yet the economics of many deals have never been better. There is little or no upside to a reporter publishing any positive economic news. Sensational negative news sells.  Why is that?  I don’t know but if it didn’t sell well it wouldn’t dominate the newspapers and media.

Do you want the recession to be over?  Then declare it is over.  If we don’t stop this insane attitude, we will continue to get more of what we focus on. That is the Law of Attraction.  “The only thing to fear is fear itself” That a famous historical quote. President Roosevelt knew that fear is a powerful emotion that attracts negative results.

Who do you know that sets a great example on a balanced attitude regardless of published economic trends? One of my favorites is Warren Buffet.  He has the long term view and recognizes there can be periods of time that don’t yield the same results as others. He is one of the wealthiest men in the world and goes to work every day because he loves what he does.  I admire his attitude and learn from him and others like him.

So if you have read this far I ask what are you going to do different starting now?  Are you going to stop buying the doom and gloom stories?  Are you going to start developing a stronger and consistent prosperity attitude.  Join me in that mindset, posture and related actions. James Allen wrote “As A Man Thinketh” We move in the direction of our current dominant thought. What direction do you want to move in?  Take your attitude temperature and depending on the reading you can predict where your company, job, finances and relationships are headed. It is all up to you just as it is all  up to me what happens in my life.  When more of us get that, not only will any doom or gloom be over but it won’t happen again.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: MySpace: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

How A Conference Call Problem Is Flipped To A Marketing Opportunity

Recently I planned to co-host a teleconference call where over 2,000 interested people were invited. When events of this type are planned, I usually anticipate a 5-10% reservation rate and then 20-25% of the people reserving their space will actually participate on the call.

Those numbers are not the lesson of this article.  Although if you read the numbers carefully they wil help network marketers, direct response marketers and people managing special interest groups off line and on line. This article is about the doors that opened when I failed to understand all of the featurs of the new conferencing call system I was testing and I couldn’t connect the callers. I rescheduled the call.

In a prior life I would have blamed a lot of people but now I look and say what could I have done to prevent this problem?  The number one action (and yes I knew this but didn’t do it) was to test the system before announing and promoting the call. I had assumed I understood how it worked from the training that was available and I didn’t.  So I accept responsibility for needing to reschedule the call.

First lesson: always test …always.

The conference call system is fairly new and once discovered I really wanted to use it. The features and benefits for a free system were “off the charts.”  I was further impressed by an email from the company’s CEO who had learned of my canceled call and wanted to know about the  difficulty and what they could do better.

Second Lesson: when a customer even a free customer has an issue, find out what  you can do to solve the problem and possibly prevent it from recurring.

In order for me to answer the question for myself and the CEO as to what can be better I needed to make sure I understood how this system worked.  Often times  when I have a question I will become the teacher since if I can successfully explain it to someone else then I understand it myself.  So I developed three videos of enhanced training for this system which is called Callifower. These videos are below.

Third Lesson: You understand an important topic well enough if you can teach it.

Now this is where my business analytical and consulting skills really kick in. I stepped back from this situation and asked, other than my group who else would benefit from this conference calling system and training?  Here is a short list:

1. There are groups using conference calling extensively now. They include network marketers, internet marketers launching products to name a few.

2. Companies with employees in remote locations. These can include outside sales people on the road, managers of stores in multiple locations, trucking companies with drivers on the road, employees in mulitiple offices or plant locations.  Are you beginning to see the opportunities.

Fourth Lesson: Be open to how technology developed for one group can be applied to non-targeted groups.

This is the advantage of working with a business consultant exposed to a wider range of company practices. However, like companies not all consultants have expertise in marketing tools like blogs, video, social networking, conference calls, syndication, direct response and more.

International Resources and specifically this consultant is very connected to not only the latest tools that are developed but more importantly often has personal experience with what is working.  This logic can be applied to company managers who identify a practice that works well and can share that using video, white papers, blogs, press releases, emails, newsletters and seminars with  customers and even competitors. Very few discoveries are extremely proprietary and often “speed to market” with information establishes credibility.

What really caught my attention about Calliflower were the features of being able to see who is on line and multiple ways for participants to ask questions and participate.  Check out these videos:

Video 1: Calliflower Conference Call Training for Participants:

Video 2 Part A Calliflower Conference Call Training for Conference Hosts:

Video 2 Part A Calliflower Conference Call Training for Conference Hosts:

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: MySpace: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Discover One Way Your Business Can Make More Money Fast..Legally

I remember a Jay Abraham lecture on the only three ways to increase sales.  I will never forget it.  I couldn’t help thinking that it was so obvious yet I had never heard it before and didn’t think of it myself.

Isn’t that the case in so many instances?  We discover the opportunity is right in front of us, obvious and not complicated.  The following video may be one of those instances for you.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: MySpace: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Is Your Business Strategy Largely Determined By How You Feel?

How we feel about anything is a great barometer for prioritizing an action plan.  If you feel a major pain in your chest, the actionable options  and the time frame for implementation are generally clear. However, once we move past a life threatening emergency, we have a tendency to not move as purposely.

Why is it that we often take a “let’s see what happens” approach?  Actually there are many reasons. We rely on the news to tell us how we are doing. Currently the news reports the US is in a recession so we decide to accept that and feel bad.  We also decide to live in fear.  We fear lost sales and profits, we fear losing our business or our jobs and more.  This feeling bad or feeling negative state results in us being “off our game”.  Life a professional athlete, we don’t perform to our potential.

There a many companies in a hiring freeze and  have indefinitely suspended pay increases even when they are deserved by a star person’s performance.  The valued employees in place are asked to do more for the same or less pay.  Businesses scale back on marketing programs, investments in technology and in general any spending that seemingly hurts short term cash flow and earnings.

All of these actions and more have a direct negative impact on long term results. When the news tells us things are getting better and we decide to be back “on our game”, we find valuable employees leaving for a better place to work, we find competitors who have become stronger rather than weaker while we were holding back and we find a shortage of excellent outside talent to help us with projects that are now coming out of hibernation.

Does this scenario sound familiar? If you are younger than 25 it may not. But if you are under 25 pay attention and maybe it will be you who will learn from the current economic experiences.  Maybe it will be you who decides there is no law for us ever to be in an economic downturn. There is no  law that requires us to feel bad or be angry about anything.

We have an opportunity at the start of each day to move forward or stagnate and eventually fade away. I suggest you decide right now to move your business forward.

The Top 5 Action Steps For Moving Your Business Forward Starting Today
1. Decide what revenue and profit before tax you want to report for the year ended twelve months from today.
2. Roll those numbers back to what you want to report one month from now and for each subsequent month for this next year. (It makes no difference when you are starting this. Use the twelve month horizon right now.)
3. For the next two months, roll the revenue and profits number back to what your business needs to do each week starting this week to hit your monthly target.
4. Translate your two month weekly and monthly targets into specific action plans with assigned accountability.
5. Measure actual vs. planned performance with close attention to your actual vs. planned cash position. Support and hold people accountable for performance.

Taking purposeful action is the key to moving forward. The alternative is to sit back read the news to find out how good or bad you feel.  Your choice.  (If you would like to discuss these steps and how I have helped companies effectively implement these for long term business performance improvement, contact me at 727-587-7871.)

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: MySpace: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

How To Select Part Time or Temporary CFO, Controller Services

Credentials, Experience, Cultural Fit are the three keys to selecting the right professional for your Temporary CFO or Interim Controller staffing requirements.  The purpose of this video is this introduce me, Steve Pohlit and my firm International Resources, www.IRConsultingInc.com to you and your business.

 

 

There are really only two primary reasons you may be considering temporary, part time or interim professional assistance. The first you already understand and that is to fill a void in your business. You have an immediate need for assistance and you are evaluating your options for filling that need. The second one you may not have thought about and that is where your company is not of the size or financial strength to support a full time professional with the right experience and skill set.

Credentials, Experience and Fit:

I am a currently licensed CPA and my MBA is from Xavier University. My experience as a CFO and CEO is extensive in numerous industries. My experience also includes ten years with the largest public accounting and consulting firm in the world.

Our goal is to have the right match for your business. This is why it is very important we have a clear understanding of your business and business requirements. We will then match our best professional for the assignment.

Guarantee

We guarantee your satisfaction with the professional assigned to your company. While rare, occasionally there is a mismatch. We will replace anyone who is not meeting your expectations. Of course there are no long term contracts and the service you engage us to perform can be terminated with one week’s notice.

Contact

Steve Pohlit, President
International Resources
IR Consulting, Inc.
www.IRConsultingInc.com
727-224-4743
Email Contact Click Here

How This One Tool Will Guide You To Profitable Business Growth

The value of the tool presented in this video is huge. It is named The Gold which represents its value for you and your business. It is the foundation for achieving all business performance goals.

I use it on every business consulting project and with every executive coaching project. The Gold is used when my firm provides interim CFO and controller services. The Gold is used for special purpose project management as the logic can be applied to every function within a business.

You can use this right now to help your business and if you need assistance with implementation, I welcome all inquiries.   Steve Pohlit 727-587-7871.    

 

   

 

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance. Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: MySpace: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Thank You Frank Kern.. You Are The Reason For This Video

An objective review of this video by almost anyone would say – don’t release it. I can come up with  over a hundred reasons why this video should not be released. However, I look at Frank Kern. Have you ever watched any of his videos?  Google him and take a look. Inspirational!  If this guy can deservedly make 10 ‘s of millions annually with his style, I know I can provide 10 times that value.  Love your style and valuable content Frank.

My message to you is this: if you wait until you like your own video, article, website, blog material before you make it public, it will never be public.

I founded YouTube Mastery on Facebook and YouTubeMastery.net   I did that because video is huge and there is so much compelling evidence of how video is driving traffic to websites and driving up ranking in search engines, you would have to be nuts not to use it.  OK and so there are a lot of people who are nuts. Video remains my number one marketing recommendation.

My primary business is coaching executives and restucturing companies for long term improvements in profit performance and asset management.  The following video is the first in a series that describes my business consulting practice and as the series develops offers specific guidance as to what you can expect during a consulting engagement as well as valuable tips that will help your business make more money right now.

 

 

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

MySpace:

Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

My Social Networking and Social Marketing Policy

I have adopted the following based on what has been released by Brian Campbell. Brian encourages others to adopt this posture and you are invited to use it if it fits. You will have EVEN more opportunities if you adopt this policy or one similar for yourself.

I’m sending this message out to all of my Facebook friends. It is my policy regarding how I work and interact on social networks including Facebook.

This is an open invitation for you to experience new growth and tap into the power of the connections that I’ve made on Facebook.

I, Steve Pohlit give you FULL permission to:

1. Post a link to your website on the wall of my Facebook profile.
2. Tag me in a note that’s on a topic you think I may be interested in without mentioning my name in the note itself I appreciate all credible references to me but those are not required.
3. Ask me a general question on my personal profile’s wall.
4. Post a link to any videos, pictures or websites that you think that I might enjoy or that the majority of my friends might enjoy.
5. Say hello, initiate a conversation or let me know more about you.
6. I trust your judgement to post whatever you think is appropriate. If it helps you, please post!

I ask that you post something that you think has value. If you do not add value and include an affiliate link, I may delete it and I am likely to ask that you do not do that again. I will use the same method you used in posting to politely ask you to stop. Some of my frieds are more tolerent of spam. My profile is a public picture of me and my network. I choose to send positive energy personally and through my profile.

If you post something that is valuable, I may take the time to view it and perhaps I’ll share it with others. I might comment on it, or say nothing but simply remember that you’re a value creator and I’ll have a positive impression of you that may lead to a business relationship with me or friendship at some point in the future with me or my friends.

If you have a blog, website, product or service that you’ve created that my network would like to know about, feel free to tell me about it by posting on my wall. Feel free to include a link to the site with a brief description of what benefits someone would achieve by vising the site.

If you tag me in a note that’s related to something you know I’m interested in (social networking, Internet marketing, building business profits, creating wealth, helping people, law of attraction, giving, healthy living, or spirituality) then the people who are connected to me for those purposes will come and read your note and if it provides value, you’ll build a loyal following.

If you tag me in all of your notes just to get free publicity for yourself, you have my blessings. Even if you think you’re a competitor of mine, go ahead and promote yourself. I don’t have any competition anyway because the value I create cannot be diminished by the value you create.

I’m glad to provide a platform for you to reach people with your message through me.

I want you to provide value to the world and I don’t want to hinder your success. I believe that my network of connections on facebook is one of the most talented, creative and caring groups of people with a true commitment to success and by allowing you the freedom to promote the value that you give to the world, you’re helping me fulfill my mission in life by serving my friends.

There’s one other thing I’ll point out about allowing you the freedom to post freely on my wall, tag me in notes, or do other things to get in my mini-feed. This action benefits me too. That’s right! By posting your opportunities on my wall, you’re actually helping people find out about me and helping me deliver my value to more people. So we both win!

When I asked you earlier in this note to adopt a similar strategy, I did so because by allowing people to tag you and post on your wall you will experience more rapid growth.

Facebook is designed to send new people to you if you allow people freedom to connect with you in the ways I’ve explained above. If you try to restrict people, you’re restricitng your own growth.

If you’re reading this SteveReports.com blog post as a note on facebook, I’ve tagged a few people. I’ve tagged my friends and colleagues that I think would benefit from adopting a similar open-door policy. Many of the people I’ve tagged already have this type of policy, although perhaps they aren’t aware of it.

The people who I’ve tagged are my friends, and the message to potential “spammers” mentioned is not in any way addressed to the people tagged above.

The message to potential “spammers” is more of a mindset that I have towards these type of people that I would like you to adopt, and as my friends I know that you have no intentions to spam. I’ve simply shared with you how I feel about what everyone else calls “spammers.”

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

MySpace:

Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

How To Build Business Profits Today With Just This One Action

There are two parts to this article. The first part offers people in business a reminder of what can and must be done right now for your business. The second part offers my point of view on who is responsible for the less than exciting economic news headlines that seem to be part of our daily routine.

The Number One Action Step You Can Take To Grow Your Business In Difficult Economic Times and In Booming Economic Times.

Spend 50% of your time finding out how you can provide more value to your existing customers. As you find out then deliver that value.  Spend 30 % of your time developing new customers.  In summary, spend 80% of your time marketing.  That’s it. If you are not growing your business, you are killing your business.

Who Is Responsible For The Negative Economic Events We Hear About Daily?

Do you remember there are rules and regulations already in place governing the banking system?  Really doing a good job right?

Do you remember Sarbanes-Oxley?  This was and is the law in response to the Enron fiasco and a number of other business situations awhile back.  The idea was to prevent similar disasters from recurring.  People seemed to forget  there has been a professional internal controls standard already in place along with public company rules and regulations  governed by the SEC. So with well founded governing policy already in place we enacted a law that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars and what is the result?

We have huge losses. The financial markets are in turmoil and so what is the conclusion?  Our elected officials say we need more regulation. Where is it in the founding principles of our government does it say “we the people want the government to stick its nose everywhere we live and do business.”

Obviously I am a major advocate of very little federal government regulation and so a fair question is what are the alternatives?

I always look to what works for answers. In the history of our economy there are plenty of examples that provide guidance. When businesses provide value equal to or more than the price charged, people buy what is offered. When a business comes along and offers a competitive alternative that is superior to what is available people vote with their wallets.  If what is offered by a business is not profitable for the business it ultimately fails.  One example of this is the train wreck that occurred in the Internet Industry a number of years ago.  Companies  had a great story and were funded by private investors, but had no substantive product that was in demand by the market place or at least at a price the market was willing to pay. The economics of supply and demand worked perfectly.  Companies failed and private investors got smarter. Where there was abuse, people went to Club Fed.  Basic governance worked.

This portion of this article started with the question of who is responsible for the economic mess we seem to be in right now?  Here is the answer……look in the mirror.  We have allowed our governments to grow out of control and the ripple effect is an economic mess across this country that extends to international markets.

It is my belief I am totally responsible for everything that happens in my life. It took me a long time to understand that. Once I did, I can point to a noticeable improvement.  Extending that to our economy and even beyond our borders, I know that when each person stops looking to others for a solution and delivers the message to people in public office that we have had enough with the regulations that don’t work, we as a country will grow stronger. We have the right to live our intentions in freedom and peace and we are sitting back and allowing others to weaken that right. It is time to say no more.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Is It A Recession? Is It A Depression? Doesn’t Matter ….Stop Your Bitching and Moaning And Take Purposeful Action

The last thing my readers need is another economic analysis report or some suggestion that I or anyone else out there flapping their jaws really know all the facts about the reason for current climate.  Ladies and gentlemen. reading those headlines and spending time analyzing the crap in the news is a monumental waste of God given talent. Stop your bitching and moaning and take responsibility for what you have control over which is your life. All change starts with one person. Do you want to know who that person is?  Look in the mirror.

If your business is suffering, if you have lost your sources of cash flow, if you are feeling tired, down, stressed or in general not very good, recognize this: it is very true that the way you feel is absolutely a direct result of how you think.  Don’t believe it?  OK by me if you want to be a martyr.  For those of you that want to take responsibility here is a quick 5 Step Plan to move forward fast:

A Five Step Speed Action Course For Achieving Your Goals In Changing Economic Times:

1. Recognize that most people you meet and talk to are going to be bitching and moaning about something or multiple things. Don’t play in that sandbox.  There are a small group of people totally optomistic about the unlimited possibilities. These are the people you want to “hang out” with.  So you don’t know anyone like that?  I’ll tell you one source where I have met some wonderful people. Register for an account at www.Facebook.com  and www.twitter.com   You can begin by adding me (Steve Pohlit) as a friend and if you don’t think I am wonderful, you will soon find a large number of people who are.

2. Understand the dynamics of doing business are always changing. Since 1994 with the introduction of the Internet browser, the rate of advancement continues to accelerate. Do you remember a few years ago where Google Adwords was all the rage for on line marketing? Do you know the impact social networking is having on the Adwords market?  When you look at the financial results of Google the impact may not seem obvious because Google is still the 800 pound gorilla.  But if you become active in the social networking markets like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and nearly daily growing rate of others you will see changing trend lines. I recently activated a site www.youtubemastery.net  that begins to teach people how to use video to market their business and products on line. I can’t imagine recommending that even as recently as three years ago. I know at that point there were some progressive internet marketers using video but to encourage brick and morter businesses to use it would not have been very credible for me at that time. Now it would be irresponsible if I didn’t recommend it and teach it.

3. Nothing is the same forever…nothing.  I am very familiar and experienced with using eBay stores as an adjunct to selling physical products using internet sites and retail stores. Several years ago the eBay model seemed to be an unmovable foundation for the auction business. In the last two weeks I was asked for my expert evaluation of a global trading platform that is very popular in the Europe. The person who contacted me was considering making a commitment of money and time to this business that is scheduled to enter the US.  When I started studying this model I was amazed to discover that most of it was a completely new way of lookng at auctions and while I am not personally a person who has an interest spending time on landing an eBay deal,  I can see myself playing in this new areana.  Now since its origin is Europe, I had some difficulty understanding it. Once I thought I “got it” I developed an explanaton which you can see at www.dublian.com   The point is whether you are a multi-billion dollar business, an entrepreneur, or an employeed person with a company you feel is well established for the long term, don’t fall into the trap of complacency.  I’ll bet 6,500 people employed by Wachovia felt their position was secure until they discovered in the papers that their employer lost over $8 billion and was cutting their job. Nothing is permanent.  My strongest advise with every business is the same: be very aggressive in taking care of current customers and growing market share.  Do you think that advice would change under different economic conditions? It hasn’t and it won’t

4. If you are running a business with employees you should be very consistent on your expectatons for performance. It seems that when revenue and profits are under pressure, management starts taking a close look at employee performance. In some cases they don’t even care they just cut.  Just cutting is rarely justified and is analogeous to removing a body part if you want to lose weight. That approach is just plain stupid. There is no change in the guidance here: The formula is A-P=V  which stands for actual minus plan = variance.  There must be a person accountable for each key variance in your business. That is how their performance is measured. Is it a simple as that. Yes and no which is why companies engage my me and my firm for assistance.

5. If you are repsonsible for a business that is really feeling financial and cash flow stress, every day you wait to call for assistance is a waste of very precious time needed to define and execute a turnaround plan. I have written about this before and will write about it again because it is a fact. Please visit www.turnaround-consulting-firm.com or call me direct right now at 727-587-7871.

The blessing of a changing economy is that is results in an opportunity to re-evaulate how you are running your business and your life.  The people reading this either accept that they are responsible for what happens to them or blames everyone else. For a long time I had the mind-set it wasn’t me. Four years ago I concluded that mind-set was completely incorrect.

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Is It A Recession? Is It A Depression? Doesn't Matter ….Stop Your Bitching and Moaning And Take Purposeful Action

The last thing my readers need is another economic analysis report or some suggestion that I or anyone else out there flapping their jaws really know all the facts about the reason for current climate.  Ladies and gentlemen. reading those headlines and spending time analyzing the crap in the news is a monumental waste of God given talent. Stop your bitching and moaning and take responsibility for what you have control over which is your life. All change starts with one person. Do you want to know who that person is?  Look in the mirror.

If your business is suffering, if you have lost your sources of cash flow, if you are feeling tired, down, stressed or in general not very good, recognize this: it is very true that the way you feel is absolutely a direct result of how you think.  Don’t believe it?  OK by me if you want to be a martyr.  For those of you that want to take responsibility here is a quick 5 Step Plan to move forward fast:

A Five Step Speed Action Course For Achieving Your Goals In Changing Economic Times:

1. Recognize that most people you meet and talk to are going to be bitching and moaning about something or multiple things. Don’t play in that sandbox.  There are a small group of people totally optomistic about the unlimited possibilities. These are the people you want to “hang out” with.  So you don’t know anyone like that?  I’ll tell you one source where I have met some wonderful people. Register for an account at www.Facebook.com  and www.twitter.com   You can begin by adding me (Steve Pohlit) as a friend and if you don’t think I am wonderful, you will soon find a large number of people who are.

2. Understand the dynamics of doing business are always changing. Since 1994 with the introduction of the Internet browser, the rate of advancement continues to accelerate. Do you remember a few years ago where Google Adwords was all the rage for on line marketing? Do you know the impact social networking is having on the Adwords market?  When you look at the financial results of Google the impact may not seem obvious because Google is still the 800 pound gorilla.  But if you become active in the social networking markets like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and nearly daily growing rate of others you will see changing trend lines. I recently activated a site www.youtubemastery.net  that begins to teach people how to use video to market their business and products on line. I can’t imagine recommending that even as recently as three years ago. I know at that point there were some progressive internet marketers using video but to encourage brick and morter businesses to use it would not have been very credible for me at that time. Now it would be irresponsible if I didn’t recommend it and teach it.

3. Nothing is the same forever…nothing.  I am very familiar and experienced with using eBay stores as an adjunct to selling physical products using internet sites and retail stores. Several years ago the eBay model seemed to be an unmovable foundation for the auction business. In the last two weeks I was asked for my expert evaluation of a global trading platform that is very popular in the Europe. The person who contacted me was considering making a commitment of money and time to this business that is scheduled to enter the US.  When I started studying this model I was amazed to discover that most of it was a completely new way of lookng at auctions and while I am not personally a person who has an interest spending time on landing an eBay deal,  I can see myself playing in this new areana.  Now since its origin is Europe, I had some difficulty understanding it. Once I thought I “got it” I developed an explanaton which you can see at www.dublian.com   The point is whether you are a multi-billion dollar business, an entrepreneur, or an employeed person with a company you feel is well established for the long term, don’t fall into the trap of complacency.  I’ll bet 6,500 people employed by Wachovia felt their position was secure until they discovered in the papers that their employer lost over $8 billion and was cutting their job. Nothing is permanent.  My strongest advise with every business is the same: be very aggressive in taking care of current customers and growing market share.  Do you think that advice would change under different economic conditions? It hasn’t and it won’t

4. If you are running a business with employees you should be very consistent on your expectatons for performance. It seems that when revenue and profits are under pressure, management starts taking a close look at employee performance. In some cases they don’t even care they just cut.  Just cutting is rarely justified and is analogeous to removing a body part if you want to lose weight. That approach is just plain stupid. There is no change in the guidance here: The formula is A-P=V  which stands for actual minus plan = variance.  There must be a person accountable for each key variance in your business. That is how their performance is measured. Is it a simple as that. Yes and no which is why companies engage my me and my firm for assistance.

5. If you are repsonsible for a business that is really feeling financial and cash flow stress, every day you wait to call for assistance is a waste of very precious time needed to define and execute a turnaround plan. I have written about this before and will write about it again because it is a fact. Please visit www.turnaround-consulting-firm.com or call me direct right now at 727-587-7871.

The blessing of a changing economy is that is results in an opportunity to re-evaulate how you are running your business and your life.  The people reading this either accept that they are responsible for what happens to them or blames everyone else. For a long time I had the mind-set it wasn’t me. Four years ago I concluded that mind-set was completely incorrect.

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Attention All Business Owners: 3 Steps To Activating A Corporation

Do you have a business or maybe you are thinking about having one. It could be a company with employees, an information marketing business, a mlm distributorship or maybe you are an independent contractor. If so,  you should be incorporated. You may have read about the tax deductions available to business owners. If you are not taking advantage of these you may be leaving money on the table. Follow tax laws for the advantage of your business. They were written for that purpose.

I just finished setting up another Subchapter S Corp. and outlined the essential steps in this process. Most people think they need to hire a CPA or business expert to get this done. You do not. Al the information is on line. Simply take action. Note: I am not a tax advisor or attorney. I am an advocate of using readily available information for making your own decisions and taking action. 

Summary of The Three Steps…Details to Follow:

1. Register with the state where you select to be incorporated. This does not need be the state of your business location or residence. My latest registration is in Nevada and I live in Florida.

2. File for an EIN number with the IRS. This is an employee identification number and can be obtained on line almost instantly once you have your corporation registered.

3. If you are filing for Subchapter S status you must fax a completed request form to the IRS with your Corporate identity (name ) and your EIN number. That is why you follow these steps in sequence. The form is easy.

Additional Details of Setting Up A Corporation:

Types of Corporations:

The most common legal entities are a C Corporation and and S Corporation with an LLC growing in popularity. Generally, if you are a entrepreneur or privately held company with one or a few shareholders, an Subchapter S is likely what you will use. Some people prefer an LLC for specific types of businesses. Do your own research then act. You can set up an S Corp or LLC and then convert to  a C Corp. The reverse may difficult.

Where To Incorporate and How To Do It.

The two most popular areas are Delaware and Nevada. I liked Nevada for a number of reasons but a lot of people use the state they are in and a lot of people select Delaware.  Once the state was chosen I selected a registered agent called them and in about 20 minutes they had everything they needed to file with the State of Nevada. 

Two weeks and about $300 later I received my papers and at that point could register the officers with the State. Another $125 unless you are late like me and pay a $75 penalty. (Rates vary by state and so do annual renewals.)

EIN and Subchapter S Status

Once you have registered the officers which can be done on line got to the IRS site and apply for an EIN number. This is done online, you receive your EIN almost instantly and there is no additional charge.

With the EIN number go back to the IRS site and print out form 2553 if you are filing for Subchapter S status and fax it in.   You do not have Sub S status until you receive a letter from the IRS confirm such status.

Other Info

Since I incorporated in the State of Nevada I set up a virtual office in Las Vegas. So my business cards show offices in multiple states which I liked. There are tons of places that do this. I found one that set me up for $50 and charges $30 per month. 

Summary

I just went through this process and it was relatively easy. However I recognize if you have no experience with this it may be confusing. Normally a local CPA firm can help you for a reasonable fee. I recommend anyone in business to be incorporated. It will make your life easier when it comes to keeping your business income and deductions separate from your personal return items.  

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, happiness and peace.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

5 Steps To Stop Insane Management From Driving Business Into The Ground

As a reminder the popular definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting the different  results”. Most companies continue to do business the same way and blame the economy and high gas prices on their declining business results when they should be looking in the mirror. There seems to be a strong undercurrent of “I am waiting for somebody to do something vs. I am responsible.”

The operative word here is most. There are sectors of the economy that have been hit by current conditions. I will leave that analysis to economist and academics. They have a lot more expertise in such matters and enjoy the intellectual debates of cause and effect. I have a laser beam focus on what individual companies can and should be doing to achieve their potential.

I am excluding from this article any company who is in serious cash flow difficulty. When a business gets to that point, crisis management… turnaround expertise is needed. MY firm International Resources does that work and we are very good at it. I always advise if you are in that situation, call me or a firm like mine right now as time is of the essence. My direct line is 727-587-7871.

What are “The 5 Steps To Stop Insane Management From Driving Business Into The Ground?”

1. Have a very clear profit plan at each line item of business performance. Measure actual performance against plan and have clear accountability for achieving the plan line item by line item. To implement this you must have timely, accurate and relevant information. No excuses…must have.

2. When people who are accountable for line item performance consistently fail to meet the stated goals, replace them. Period!

3. The number one function in a business that will be the subject of most of the excuses is sales. These excuses come from people who do not understand how to market to a consumer who places ever increasing importance on relationships. Why do you think the community building sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook are in the top ten most highly visited sites globally? According to Alexa, YouTube is 3 , MySpace is 6 and Facebook is 8 ) Every business must have a relationship driven marketing strategy and then implement it. See Relationship Marketing below.

4. Always be evaluating the market including on line competitors. I wonder if Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL in retrospect would have done anything different when Google first came to market?  No company is immune from being seriously weekend by competition. I look at the drugstore landscape. I live in Florida where competition is very active particularly for pharmacy prescriptions. A new format of drugstores was introduced not that long ago by Walgreens, CVS, and others with positioning of buildings with 24 hour drive through pharmacies on high cost real estate. Two things have happened with those changes. Prices skyrocketed to pay for real estate and relationships with the pharmacy customer has almost become extinct. Within this landscape I am aware of several privately held drugstores doing very well because of their attention to customer relationships.

5. Don’t push a boulder up hill. Some companies were never meant to be. People start companies or buy existing companies because they think it is a good idea. The only opinion that matter is the market. If your business was not all that strong in the past and you are basically doing everything right, the best action to stopping the profit leaks may mean closing the doors. If you are not sure Contact Me.

Reality Business: The following examples are taken from just one day’s experiences – today.

1. I was talking with a former client who is now a good friend, who told me they have exposure on a large receivable as it looks like the customer is going out of business. After asking two questions I understood that procedures installed during the consulting project were ignored. Insane management. This happens all the time where people make exceptions to sound business practices and then wonder what went wrong. Follow well founded established policies and procedures without exception. Does that mean nothing will ever go wrong? No, but the surprises will be fewer and far between.

2. During a meeting with a very successful fund manager I asked him if there was any one or two things that he attributes to his success. We were specifically talking about clients who transfer portfolios of $250,000 and higher to him from other firms. He said: “just two things: first I have a “high touch” approach which cements the relationship. The markets have been unforgiving lately. I increase my meetings with clients when competitors are shying away from making calls to people whose portfolios have been hit. Second I have marketing funnel to my target audience that has consistently worked very well.” I am not writing the details as this is proprietary but I will tell you this – you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.

3. I was invited to lunch at a very nice restaurant in Tampa. It has a fairly steep price tag for most of the selections. There were many tables available. Like nearly every other restaurant I have ever dined, regardless of price point, when I left they have no idea who I am and have no way of inviting me back. Insane management.

All in one day!!

Relationship Marketing:

I love talking about how easy it is for retail business to install a relationship marketing program. This is actually easy for every company, but most readers can relate to experiences with restaurants, grocery stores, dry cleaners, specialty shops and other retail stores. Just ask yourself when was the last time you received a thank you note, an incentive to come in for a special on a particularly slow day or a brief questionnaire asking you how they can serve you better? It happens. I listened to a story the other night about a business getting a fax every time it rains near the lunch hour from a nearby restaurant saying “It is raining. Our business will be slow today. Come in for a free Taco.”” Of course, nearly everyone will be buying more than one taco. But isn’t that cool and how hard is that to do?

Visit http://www.localretailmarketing.com for an idea on how you can begin strengthening your customer relationships. The information is free. My firm is not if you want us to do it for you. We get it done now which can be very valuable for you.

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, happiness and peace.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

How To Use Social Media Video (YouTube) To Grow Your Business

Does 200 million page views a month catch your attention? How about knowing 41% of the members between the ages of 34 and 55 and all groups are divided nearly evenly between male and female? If that isn’t enough to get your attention consider these:

1. Members look for content by areas of interest.
2. All content is video and each video can be described using text that is rich with targeted keywords for your product or service.

Just a Couple More Things

1. The information above is about YouTube.. the 6th highest volume site on the Internet. The demographic data is for the US only and yet YouTube is International. The real number are larger but not quantified.
2. There are more than 150 social media sites on line and growing. Each one is attempting to carve out a niche of the huge general market. Of the 150, approximately one third are video sites. Once a person masters YouTube alll the skills are generally transferable to other niche market video sites.

The Action Plan Tracker

I have a business consulting firm. I teach companies how to build revenues and profits using proven principles and processes. Part of the business consulting work plan is to help the client implement an improved and more effective marketing strategy. Social media is now a required component of my updated business marketing strategy model. The numbers of people joining social media sites and becoming very active are very significant and should not be ignored.

There are a huge number of businesses that do not have websites, use blogs, test on line promotion campaigns, execute effective email campaign which are all very proven and effective marketing tools. Social media sites generally completely ignored by most companies. The exceptions are wisely building brand and loyalty.

Very recently I developed the groups YouTube Mastery on Facebook and MySpace as well as the the site www.youtubemastery.net These resources are just being developed and the website is very underdeveloped. However, I have a very clear plan and once I reach that point I take action and sacrifice some perfection. People need to know about these opportunities now and begin using all the Internet tools plus traditional marketing tools in their business now. I currently advise business owners that they need to be devoting nearly 80% of their time on marketing. Part of that 80% includes working with staff and others accountable for marketing. Marketing and developing people are the two most important areas where a business owner needs to spend their time. All other responsibilities should be delegated. What if your are an entrepreneur of one. The point is still the same.

Right Now Action Steps:

1. Join the group YouTube Mastery on Facebook
2. Visit and register at www.youtubemastery.net

These two actions will result in you getting up to speed on using social media and social media video to market your business.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, happiness and peace.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size.

Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Off the topic of Business Consulting, Making More Money, Internet Marketing, Social Network.

Several weeks ago I was introduced to Reddit

I check it periodically ….. and several days ago  I just read the following really cool headline.

Does anyone else ever find themselves clicking around on the net, only to suddenly sit looking at the screen wondering just what the f— it was you were actually trying to do?

Can you relate to that?  I assure you I have been there – recently and will probably be there again soon.

Be well

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size.

Click Here For The Free Report

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Discover Effective Business Marketing by Following Successful Direct Response Marketers and Internet Marketers

All of my work with helping companies achieve their potential includes enhancing their marketing programs. Everything I use in that part of my consulting and coaching practice is a result of what I learned from: Dan Kennedy, Ken McCarthy, John Reese and more.

Yesterday, John Reese sent an email updating his list about the status of his latest project. Part of that email is repeated below. Be sure to read my comments after John’s remarks for very valuable free resources.

From John Reese……..

If you haven’t yet signed up for Twitter.com you
really need to do it ASAP. As you’ll soon discover,
it’s becoming a very powerful traffic-generation and
relationship-building communications tool.

I believe it’s only a matter of time before every
serious Internet marketer, blogger, affiliate,
and business owner has a Twitter account and
is using it to grow their traffic and grow their
business.

It’s completely FREE to create a Twitter account.
So go right now and create an account and
SECURE YOUR NAME (or company name)
before someone takes it first.

After you create your account (or if you already
have one) be sure to “follow” me by going to
my Twitter page and clicking “follow” under
my photo:

http://twitter.com/johnreese

* I’m announcing some important news in the
next few days… follow me on Twitter to get
the *live* updates.

Yours For Online Profits,

John Reese

—————————–

Valuable information you can use when you set up your Twitter account

1 Follow me at http://twitter.com/stevepohlit

2. Larry Chase published a great list of Twitter tools – I learned about this from a “Tweet” by a person I am following. You won’t believe the tips you get when you start following some of the people on Twitter.

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Business Marketing Opportunities on Facebook vs MySpace

MySpace vs. Facebook Comparison Video

Jeff Hoffman prepared a nice video on the statistical differences between MySpace and Facebook. This video is about 9 minutes long and is worth the time. The comments I posted in response to this material follow:

Jeff does a real nice job of presenting data on the demographic differences between Facebook and MySpace. What is most clear to me is that the demographics of both sites are shifting rapidly. There are people who have been successful building networks on Facebook and who are now working to do the same on MySpace. So I wouldn’t ignore MySpace based on this information.

However, given limited resources, Jeff objectively delivers the message to businesses to spend time marketing on Facebook vs. MySpace. For me there remains a very serious question when considering Facebook vs. all other marketing tools. That is whether Facebook should be used at all. I don’t see compelling evidence of the value for companies spending time developing social networking on Facebook. However, I advise all companies , entrepreneurs, and solopreneurs to be actively developing a presence on at least Facebook. I offer that advice because I believe we are just at the beginning of understanding how to market effectively on social medial sites including Facebook.

Thank you Jeff for this video and I look forward to more content on this topic.

Steve Pohlit, President
IR Consulting, Inc
http://www.IRConsultingInc.com

PS One comment I failed to include is the potentially high ROI for paid advertising on Facebook and MySpace. This should be tested.

———————-

Just Released from my new business consulting site: The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size.

Click Here For The Free Report

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

If You Are Buying A Business, Thinking of Buying A Business, or Think You Might Someday, Read This Free Report

Just Released from my new business consulting site: The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size.

Click Here For The Free Report

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

The Secret of How Staples Business Depot Became The Largest In Canada

Click Here for the details of this story: In summary, at first glance it appears the company’s success is do to ……let the President Steve Matyas tell it: “It sounds like a cliché, but everything we do is about making shopping easy for our customers. We continually ask ourselves and our customers, ‘What can we do to make shopping with us easy?’”

Specifically what are they doing better than their competition and pay very close attention to this as there are very valuable lessons to be learned:

1. Clearly defined niche – small business owner.

2. Establish a process for staying in touch with their customers and then offering the products and services they want and need. Have you heard the message: find an hungry market already spending money on what you are offering then position your offer better than your competitors?

3. Make is easy for your customers to do business with you. In the article you will notice there are different size store models depending on the market. Staples cannot profitably operate the same store format in all markets because of demographic differences.

4. After following the first three steps they are able to reap the rewards of their focus on “making shopping with us easy” and they know how important it is to have the right employees in their stores to execute on this goal. Notice their emphasis on innovative recruiting to attract people they need for their growing business.

This is a great example and lesson of a business understanding and serving their customer.

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip