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

The First Ever Adsense Live Case Study

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to turn a blank website into an automatic revenue generator.

– You can see EVERYTHING, including the cpanel, AdSense earnings,
affiliate earnings, traffic generated, search engine spidering,
EVERYTHING.

– You’ll get the keys to be able to create AS MANY
of these Internet cash machines as you want.

– You’ll be able to discover the no cost methods to automatically
get 100 or more visitors per day, everyday, within 24 hours of
building your site

– You’ll be able to get your sites indexed in major search engines
(Google, Yahoo) within 24 hours, and appear on the first page of
those search engines for many keywords.

– You’ll be able to generate money in less than 24 hours of loading
your site

– Did I mention you can build as MANY of these cash machines as you
like?? 🙂

And Finally, what if all the above was possible AND

(drum roll, please……………….)

…………

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There is NO upsell.

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To your success

Steve Pohlit
_____________________

Converting Ideas Into Business Revenue and Profits

The following article by my friend Allyn Cutts offers excellent advise and is a courtesy of Steve Pohlit, Business Development Consultant who helps companies develop and implement business building marketing programs and organizational processes to optimize profit growth.

Are You Top Of Consciousness

How many great ideas have you had that fizzled and evaporated into thin air? Heck, they were darned good ideas too! The problem wasn’t the ideas, it was implementing them… making them work.

We’ve been talking about Top of Consciousness Marketing, one of the greatest marketing tools I’ve come across. Now it’s time to do a little strategizing about ways to make it work for you. There’s no sense in letting another brilliant idea vanish!

How often and how many ways could you contact a potential customer outside of normal visits to you place of business? Quick! Make a list…

Here are a few to get you going:

* Seasonal greetings
* Post cards
* Birthday cards
* Newsletters
* Catalogs
* Flyers
* Special sale notices
* Telephones calls
* Emails
* Thank you’s

Listen up, here’s the secret to effectively obtaining Top of Conscious positioning in the mind of your customers… finding 10 to twelve ways to contact them every year.

Newsletters are probably one of the easiest ways to implement a regular contact system with your customers and potential customers. A monthly newsletter written in an informative and entertaining style is something your customers and potential customers will look forward to. It’ll also go a long way in establishing your credibility as an expert in your field of business.

Who doesn’t appreciate a personalized “Thank You?” It doesn’t really matter if it’s a phone call, and email, a card or a bouquet. It’s the thought that counts.

Remember the pleasant surprise of an unexpected birthday card? Hey, it always feels good to have someone remember your special day.

The key to staying on at the top of peoples minds is simply getting their attention on a regular basis. Pick one or 10 of these methods and start using them to get the attention of your potential customers and to keep loyal customers feeling appreciated.

Stick around for some more great ideas on implementing Top of Consciousness strategies.

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays
___________________________________________

Steve Pohlit develops and implements processes and procedures that grow revenue, maximize gross margin and optimize net profit. This approach is detailed in the free course “How To Increase Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less” which can be found at by click here and “Blogging for Profits” which is another free series that can be found here at Steve Reports.

May Your Profits Grow and You Have Fun With The Journey

Steve Pohlit, Business Development Consultant

Derek Gehl Comments On Microsoft Live

Microsoft Office Live: A FREE small business web site solution for people looking to get online

I just read an interesting New York Times article about Microsoft’s new and improved Office Live Basics service, which is launching on Nov 15.

Looks like Microsoft is trying to persuade people to become part of the “Microsoft family” by offering free a small business web site solution to people who want to start an online business but don’t have their own web site yet.

On the surface, it seems like a pretty sweet deal… You get your own unique domain name, a hosted web site, five personalized email accounts, site tracking and analysis tools– and, of course, seamless integration of all of Microsoft’s paid advertising offerings, such as AdCenter.

And if you like what you get in the Live Basic small business web site solution, you can always upgrade to Live Essential, which offers advanced features such as increased bandwidth, advanced traffic reporting, and more than 20 applications for managing all aspects of your business.

Of course, that’s what Microsoft wants you to do–to become so reliant on their free small business web site solution that in order to grow, you need to start using their paid services, too. Not a bad business model on their part!

If you don’t have a web site yet and are thinking about taking Microsoft up on their offer, I’d advise you to proceed with caution.

First of all, the Basic version only provides you with a prefab template design for your site. It allows for some flexibility, but certainly isn’t something you can totally customize from the ground up. And once you get hooked in by Microsoft, who knows how easy it will be to switch your site to another host, if you choose to do so?

Still, it should be interesting to see how well Office Live is received. I look forward to hearing from people who actually use this small business web site solution — I’m eager to find out how it works for them!

Thoughts, anyone?

Click Here to Comment on Derek’s article

Steve Pohlit
Business Development Consultant

Forester Research Issues —In Depth- Report On Blogging

I discovered a press release by Forester Research announcing their latest white paper titled “B2B Marketers: Are You Ready To Blog” You will find this at Forester Research. It is important to be aware that the report is 6 pages and $349.

Of course I encourage everyone to read the Blogging for Profits series. (Click Here To Register for Blogging for Pofits) There is no charge.

If you read the Forester Reseach Report , write a comment at this blog with your evaluation.

Steve Pohlit, Business Development Consultant
“Helping Business Achieve 30 % Growth in Profits in 90 Days or Less”

Setting Goals Is Useless Without The Secret

Goal setting is a widely recommended and accepted part of making progress. You may have a goal to learn how to design a web site, how to implement a direct mail campaign, how to run a productive meeting or a goal to become more healthy. These goals may fit into one or more strategic goals like consistently increasing profits or having more energy. Goal setting seems simple enough. Why doesn’t goal setting work in most cases?

You may be thinking here comes the “take action” advice that you have read about, heard in seminars and even have tried to implement. This article is not a lecture on implementing specific steps that are required to achieve a defined goal. Most readers already know that implementing targeted action steps are required to achieve an intended end result. This article is about using The Secret to achieve your goals.

What is The Secret? My work is primarily focused on helping companies achieve their performance potential. If you have read the material in my mini-course “How To Increase Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less” you already know I plant the seed for achieving the profit improvement goal even before the project starts. The project then begins to focus on specific tasks that need to be completed to achieve the goal. Once on the road to achieving the near term goal, we move to a further refinement in how the company operates longer term in order to sustain the targeted profitable growth rate.

From experience I know the process works perfectly. What I didn’t know was why it worked better in some cases than in others. Then I discovered The Secret. Simply stated the most successful companies had leaders who not only bought into the process for achieving intended results, but who also started living the results in their minds as if they were already achieved.

I recognized long ago that by using the words “painting the picture of success” those who did the painting were the most successful. But honestly I didn’t understand that’s what was happening until I began a close examination of what went well and what didn’t for me personally and why. In every instance what happened was a direct result of what I was imaging in my mind. The more I studied “The Secret” the more I realized the principles are universal which is why some of my clients really started flying like eagles and others did not accelerate at a similar pace.

If you talk with people who have successful coaching businesses, you will find their programs generally run for many months or even a year to allow time for the concepts they are teaching to become part of their coaching student’s life. When those coaches share all the facts you will find that even though people are paying money for the program, only a minority really work the program. In addition when the program is over, a high percentage of the people going through those programs fall back to their old habits in a short period of time.

My consulting work with business clients is no different. All my clients who work through the entire process end up doing better. A small percentage really excel. They outperform any previous results and they outperform the competition. Why? Because they see it happening in their mind before it does and they attract that which fuels the painting of the picture. That Is The Secret.

Want more? Go to this site and order the DVD www.theseret.tv and this is no affiliate link. (Wish it were!)

Steve Pohlit, Business Development Consultant
“Helping Companies Achieve A Consistently High Rate of Profit Growth”

Issue No.13 Blogging For Profits: How To Maximize The Value of Articles Published On Your Blog

What do all web sites and blogs making money have in common? They offer valuable information and market that value very effectively. Even sites that are hugely successful selling products like Ebay and Amazon fuel their success by providing information relevant to the product offer. I am not discounting the heavy investment in building the brand. However, there have been many attempts to build brand without valuable content and those businesses are now marked with tombstones.

If you do not have the bank account of an Amazon, Ebay, Google, etc.? What are the best practices for maximizing the value of the content developed for your target audiences?

Subscribe to Blogging For Profits for the complete article or visit IM Newswatch, the exclusive publisher of Blogging for Profits.

Steve Pohlit, Business Development Consultant

Blogging For Profits Issue # 12: How To Build A Highly Response List Using Your Blog

Every business needs a profitable sales funnel. The top of the funnel is the entry point for potential customers or prospects. Prospects who accept to your offer represent sales. The higher the volume of relevant traffic and the higher the rate of offer acceptance equals a higher rate of sales.

Every on line marketer and an increasing number of traditional businesses are focused on increasing targeted traffic at the top of the funnel. Wal-Mart recently announced a test program in my state of Florida offering deep discounts on approximately 300 prescription drugs. Are they buying leads? What will it cost Wal-Mart for those leads? Why are they doing this?

There are very bright and successful people in traditional retail.” Look and you will see examples of successful marketing daily. Of course, just like in the Internet marketing world, there are many examples of companies wasting their money.

The most successful marketers are those successful increasing targeted traffic at the top of the funnel and converting them to buyers. Wal-Mart knows their generic prescription test will drive more traffic to their stores. Some percentage of those people will buy other products offered by Wal-Mart with normal gross margins.

Wal-Mart’s prescription drug marketing program is being tested with a group of drugs representing about 15% of the total number of prescriptions offered by a typical pharmacy. Wa-lMart is testing for two reasons: First even though they have extensive experience with product introduction and price changes, they do not have experience with the impact of a major change in prescription drug pricing. Second Wal-Mart has a major risk that has nothing to do with the prescription drug program itself.

Every major initiative engineered by Wal-Mart is tried in the press before it even has a chance of being voted on by its customers. You may think that since you are not Wal-Mart, that you do not have to consider this risk. You are wrong.

Your marketing strategy, including the information you write about in your blog, is designed to capture the attention of you target audience. Everything you publish is open to evaluation by your current customers, your target market and the media. If you are an Internet Marketer, Direct Response Marketer, Ad Agency, or Sales Rep., your work is constantly being evaluated.

If you offer your target market incentives to visit your store, register for your on-line promotion or purchase a new customer special, please be sure you are not offending your existing customers. Wal-Mart’s offer is open to everyone in the test market. If you still are not sure what I mean, remember the last time you read about a hot offer on a new cell phone and rate plan offered by your current cell phone service? Remember trying to get that deal as an exiting customer? It is likely you were told that to upgrade for the special offer your account will have to be renewed by two years in order to receive that upgrade. How did that make you feel?

What does all this have to do with using a blog to build your list? A blog is one of the best ways to drive relevant traffic into your marketing funnel. A blog is part of your foundation for publishing information that is of high interest to your customers and prospects. If you have followed previous articles in this series you already understand why search engines love content published in blogs.

There are a number of articles in this series published in their entirety at www.stevereports.com For all the complete article on other issues, you need to be a subscriber. Subscription is free. Subscribers to this series conveniently receive all of the articles as they are published directly in their email. Respecting their interest in this series, I do not blast this list with unrelated information. I recommend you always respect your subscribers interests and you are likely to have a growing loyal following.

Technically I use Aweber ( http://www.aweber.com/?213390 ) for my subscription box on my blogs. At my Steve Reports blog, you can find an example of this in two places. First there is a subscribe for updates box in the right hand column of www.stevereports.com Below it there is a link that takes the reader to a page dedicated to registering those interested in the Blogging for Profits Series. The difference between the two is not significant. Using two registration boxes on the same blog seemed like a good idea at the time, since I was intending on creating an exclusive series for those only interested in using blogs for building profits. The strategy is sound. However since Blogging for Profits is part of all the content published at Steve Reports, I am not sure that strategy is optimal.

It is easy to set up a subscription form on a blog with your Aweber account( http://www.aweber.com/?213390 ) . They have a section of their system designed specifically for that purpose. Once this is set up, any time you publish content to your blog, subscribers receive that content in their email. I think this is far superior to the traditional use of autoresponders for list management. Everyone on your list already knows what you are publishing from reading your blog and does not want to miss a single issue. You have multiple benefits by writing articles in your blog with links. In addition to gaining fast visibility in the blog directories and search engines, you are generating inbound links for other sites. You are able to use the content you are writing for your blog in article directories. Your articles can be set in your blog to go out at times you specify similar to an autoresponder series. There is a public archive of all your material for any new visitor to easily read which further helps build the quality of your subscribers. Autoresponders are great but it is my view articles on your blog structured with a list registration section is far superior.

There is no limit to the number of blogs you can create with content of interest to your target audience. I am advising every client I am working with including a huge recreational vehicle dealership, a dominant regional construction company, an international manufacturer and distributor of specialty skin care products and a local cosmetic surgery clinic to use blogs as part of their marketing strategy. Each one is making progress in developing multiple blogs to their target markets.

There is another book waiting to be written on this topic. For now, develop or fine tune your marketing strategy. Part of this process is a clear definition of your target audiences. Decide which blogs are likely to be of most benefit to your business and who will be accountable for developing the content and measuring the success of your blogs. Finally have realistic expectations as to the development life cycle of your blogs.

Be healthy, prosperous and happy,

Steve Pohlit, Business Consultant
www.stevepohlit.com
www.stevereports.com

P.S. My mini series “How To Increase Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less” details the steps used by my clients to achieve improved business performance. This mini-course is complementary. Subscribe at www.stevepohlit.com

The Dark Side of Business

Fraud and Failure are the two big F’s that represent the dark side of business. Both are rampant in on line and off line business models. This article addresses the risk of business failure in business with focus on an online Internet Marketing example since the true story included in this report is recent. It also provides guidance on achieving long lasting business success..

Nearly all marketing copy focuses on building revenue. Building revenue is required to build a business. Building profits is required to stay in business.

During a recent visit with the CEO of a company that markets physical products on line. This particular company has regularly recorded sales near $200,000 a week ($10 million a year.) They inventory nearly nothing and their gross margins are very good.

This CEO I met had no internet experience when he started. He had an idea and taught himself some web site design skills. With a very basic web site he began selling a few products that manufacturing companies drop shipped for him. From there, sales took off. With money rolling in, he hired people to help him and sales increased even more.

Today when you talk with him in detail about his business, you observe two things. He knows a lot about search engine optimization. He can tell you all the positives and negatives about each of the sites making up his VRE. The other thing you will notice is that he is very worried. He knows his business is in big trouble and he is hoping someone will help him fix it.

His business can be fixed. I am not sure who will be selected to help him, since once a person is “shell shocked” it is hard for them to pay attention to any rational discussion for more than about a minute. Others have already influenced his thinking on what should be done. My course of action would be different.

How does all this relates to you? Are you making as much profit as is possible from your business? Are you driving a proportionate share of each new revenue dollar to bottom line profit? What is your comfort level in running a business and I don’t mean just generating revenue?

How is it possible for a company to build online sales with decent margins to a level of approximately $10 million a year and be on the brink of total business failure? How is it possible for a off line company with sales of $1.5 billion to go out of business? Failure happens and the frequency is high.

Here are some things to consider. My FREE course “How To Increase Profits by 30% or More In 90 Days or Less” details the steps I recommend to all clients. Guess what!! This material is focused on the exact steps for achieving continual business success. For example, one of the products you receive with this course is a spreadsheet showing you how to maintain a schedule of cash receipts and disbursements on a rolling 8 week forcast. This ties to a financial flash that reports on your company’s financial strength. I use this very same template with every client whether it has $3 million in sales or $200 million. The course is FREE and you can register at my business consulting site.

A final note: if you are worried about the financial strength of your busiess, please call me at 727-587-7871. The initial consultation is complementay. It is possible corrective action is needed immediately to strengthen cash profits and protect your business. Most often with businesses that fail, the signs are not acknowledged soon enough and the corrective action is inadequate. Don’t let this F happen to you.

Wishing You Health, Wealth and Prosperity

Steve Pohlit, Business Consultant

Blogging For Profits: Issue # 11: Using Current Events Related To Your Business For A Niche Blog That Drives Traffic To Your Primary Business

Several weeks ago airport security rules were changed. The government pronounces them enhanced security measures.

I am a frequent air traveler and quickly set up a blog www.fastairporttravel.com The primary purpose of this niche site is to provide information that would help fellow business air travelers and others navigate airport security. In addition to information on security lines, there are tips on checking luggage, renting cars and more.

There is anther purpose for most blogs I activate. Each of my business related blogs has a very defined goal. Each one also serves to increase awareness of my consulting practice. In many cases, information is provided that businesses and marketers can directly use to help improve revenue and profits. In the case of Fast Airport Travel, the information is indirect. In all cases there are links to my primary site www.stevepohlit.com and to my primary business blog www.stevereports.com

Every business and entrepreneur can benefit from first activating a primary web site and blog. Once in place, there are almost no limits to the topics that can be developed for your blog that tie into the goal of your business and blog. There will be times when you come across a theme that warrants its own blog.

Examples of Creating Niche Blogs For Business Growth

Restaurants
The topics related to food and drink along with a tie in to health, increased energy, weight management and issues like diabetes are easily developed. If wine and spirits are served, they represent an opportunity for specialty blogs or at least major categories on the restaurant’s primary blog.

Retail Store
Depending on your offer, there is most likely a wealth of information on most, if not all, of your product categories. I once owned a drug store chain. If I still operated that business, I would likely outsource the development of content related to items sold. This could easily be a full time position for a person. However, I have learned from the Internet Marketing experts frequently posting articles at Internet Marketing Newswatch, to test using writers from elance, rentacoder or one of the other independent contractor broker sites. Imagine the range of topics possible particularly since drug stores have pharmacies, food, magazines, eye care, dental, cosmetics, skin care and more.

Professional Services
Legal, accounting, medical, title, marketing, financial services and others each have no shortage of content which form the basis for a blog. In addition, there are niche markets for most professional firms to have separate blogs. Many professionals are hesitant to offer too much information since they believe their ability to charge fees will be impaired. In my course “How To Increase Profits by 30% or More In 90 Days or Less” offered at www.stevepohlit.com I give away the exact process I teach clients that are paying me. Most people are too busy to implement new ideas, even when all the information is available for free. Of course, in the professional services industry there is value associated with working with the professional chosen, as there is often more than one way to achieve a goal. Also, there are specialties that are not easily self taught or practiced.

Name Your Industry
This article could be book by expanding on the above examples and including more industries. While this issue of Blogging for Profits may be the foundation for a future book, today’s purpose is to give you ideas on how you can develop your information and communication strategy and implement that strategy with the help of niche blogs. Ultimately, your business revenue and profits should benefit.

A Closing Recommendation
My region’s weekly business journal recently printed an article highlighting the small percentage of businesses using blogs and the relatively small percentage of people on line reading blogs. Do not be deterred by statistics. Valuable content will help your business. You may not see an immediate impact. However, consistent attention to providing valuable information to your target audience will have a positive return on investment long term.

May Your Profits Grow and You Enjoy The Journey

Steve Pohlit, Business Consultant

P.S. You are invited to post your success stories and tips at www.successtips.us and remember, most content developed for blogs can be submitted to article directories.

(Learn the exact steps to developing your own blog by reading the back issues of Blogging for Profits. Subscribing at www.stevereports.com)

Huge Opportunities for Direct Response Marketers

The number of companies using classic lead generation and direct response marketing is very small, the opportunity for marketers to help others is huge. You don’t have to be one of the gure’s to make a difference. Here are some examples of what is working:

McDonalds

McDonalds promotes a $1.00 menu in many markets. Do they lose money on this promotion? For just the $1.00 menu, McDonalds probably covers all of their food costs. In the accounting world after considering other direct costs, McDonalds is probably not making any money on the dollar meal promotion. So why do they do it?

First the dollar promotion is very popular with students and even that group generally spend more than a dollar adding on additional items to their order. Students who like the deal, bring their friends and the average ticket often exceeds $3.00. In the fast food industry McDonalds is doing quite well.

The $1.00 meal is classic lead generation. Is it perfect direct response marketing? Hardly, since McDonalds still does not do much to build their data base of customers and use it for a direct to customer communication strategy.

Here are a couple of other examples:

Men’s Warehouse

They offer the “Perfect Fit Program”. This is classic direct response marketing. On line or in the store there are attractive offers to become part of this program. Members receive attractive offers by email on special buys and sales. Based on my experience with this retailer, they execute their lead generation and communication strategy very well.

Blue Hippo

Have you ever seen these brief informercials on TV? Blue Hippo wants you to send you a computer. They target people with limited resources by offering them a weekly payment plan. It appears they will send a computer to just about anyone. Their promotion is also classic direct response. The ad runs and viewers are asked to call an 800 number. Very easy to calculate return on investment. Run the ad, measure the calls received and measure the conversion of calls received to shipments booked. I have no idea of the economics of their business, but if it is like other pay by the week businesses the profit margins are huge.

The Number of Good Examples of Direct Response Marketing Are Increasing. Companies are beginning to wake up to the importance of measuring return on investment from marketing dollars. However, for every business having a marketing program that is structured to track return on investment, there are thousands that do not.

Even the companies that have in-house marketing experts often do not really know how to maximize the return on investment from their marketing dollars. Just this week I met with the CEO and marketing expert of a medium sized company that I am helping with a business plan and projections in connection with their interest in securing additional funding for an accelerated growth program. In examining what they have done in the past, I learned they purchased a targeted list of 5,000 leads. A mailing campaign with postcards was designed and implemented.

Sounds good so far. Upon closer examination, no testing was done on the marketing message. They could have used Google Adwords to test response rates and conversion of versions of their message. Even if they didn’t want to do that, they should have tested a sample of the 5,000 before have the postcard printed for a three step sequential mailing. The point is they are doing something, they are trying but they missed several key points that would have increased their return on investment.

Being on the list of most of the well known direct response marketers, it seems natural to identify gaps in my marketing expertise. Then I simply start paying closer attention to the marketplace and find huge opportunities for improvement. With every one of my consulting clients I work through with them enhanced processes and procedures to grow revenue and maximize gross margin and net profit. This approach is detailed in the free course “How To Increase Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less” which can be found at www.stevepohlit.com and “Blogging for Profits” which is another free series that can be found here at www.stevereports.com

May Your Profits Grow and You Have Fun With The Journey

Steve Pohlit, Business Consultant

Blogging for Profits: Issue No. 10 A Profit Building Opportunity From A Home Repair Appointment

Recently I had a door including the frame replaced at my home. When a frame is replaced, it is common for the wiring and connectors for the security system to be compromised. One call to Brinks and the appointment for the repair was set. Their call center was very helpful.

The Brinks representative who came to my home arrived at the front end of the appointment window. Normally with other services I find I am usually the last call for some reason. He was professional and friendly. The work was completed quickly, he checked my entire system while he was there and the service was completed in less than an hour. I rate this experience very high on the customer satisfaction scale. However, to date they have not asked my opinion.

Discover how this appointment at my home turned into a Blogging for Profits opportunity for Brinks. Subscribe today at the main page ofSteve Reports

Steve Pohlit, Business Consultant

How Advertising Promotions Backfire

How often have you been attracted to a hot promotion only to discover the product is out of stock? This is one of the fastest ways to weaken customer loyalty and completely defeats the purpose of attracting new customers.

Boston Market has been running a family dinner promotion. The price point is $19.95. While I was not stopping for that special, I noticed a steady stream of customers ordering that special. And while I was there – they ran out. The manager was apologizing and letting people know another location nearby was still in stock. She also said the other location had a line of customers and only four dinners left. That was not a good suggestion.

A friendly crowd soon became quite irritable. Goodwill and the credibility of any future promotion was compromised. Now this was not the only issue in that location when I was there. The wait time was quite long. Boston Market is a fast food restaurant. The food is already prepared and simply needs to be served or packed for take out. The people working there moved as if the store was empty. It’s not their fault. The pay is low, the labor pool of people who will work for low pay is small and so you get what you pay for. This is systemic problem in the service industry and will not be solved until management recognizes the huge
opportunity for increased profits that will be realized when they have people working who will give customers customer service. This is not just about the pay scale, it is about having the right number of people available to provide customer service.

Now back to the advertising and more specifically the advertising process. Most retail companies have an advertising calendar because time is required to finalize a campaign including any print or electronic media that will be used. For a business the size of Boston Market, this is not small task nor is it cheap. So now all this work goes into a advertising campaign and what happens. first there is no customer contact information required on any of the coupons. Nobody asks you to fill out a satisfaction survey. So all these people come into your business to spend money and you have no idea who they are and no system in place to invite them back. Next you proceed to run out of product that you are promoting. In defense of Boston Market there are only so many whole chickens you can roast at one time and if customer traffic blips I can see where running out of product can happen. Every effort should be made to minimize out of stocks and when they do happen, have a substitute product lined up and a generous bounce back coupon – FREE would be good. Yes I am suggesting that if you are promoting a $19.95 family dinner and if you run out, give them a bounce back coupon for $19.95. It will cost the restaurant less than $8.00 and you will probably win a customer for life.

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Steve Pohlit is a business consultant helping companies achieve extraordinary increases in revenue and profits. "How To Increase Profits by 30% or More In 90 Days or Less" is a free course found at www.stevepohlit.com  "Blogging for Profits" is another free mini series Steve has developed and is offered at his blog www.stevereports.com  Steve’s newest service, www.successtips.com  offers others to contribute articles and advice as well as promote their business. CEOs of companies with revenue exceeding $10 million annually are invited to contact Steve for a complimentary consultation.

Leadership Is The No.1 Key Success Factor

Leadership is the most important factor in predicting business success or failure. A company’s strength or weakness is determined by its leader.

Recently, I started working with a privately held company that is owned by a family and where a number of family members work in the business. This is a very common picture. What is also common whether the business is family owned or not is a lack of clear direction and day to day discipline where resources are focused on the most important revenue and cost drivers.

I regularly hear a list of excuses and over time while I am working at different companies in different industries, the list is nearly always the same. In nearly every case when I ask a question as to why a certain work function is not performing it invariably comes down to a family member in the job or some loyal employee in the job that has established their way of doing things and the company’s leader is afraid of upsetting the apple cart.

How To Establish Strong Leadership In A Business

When I talk about this subject and give examples of ineffective leadership, most people think I quickly recommend replacing the person. Since some of my clients are family owned companies and the CEO is often the head of the family in addition to being head of the business, replacing that person is not an option. Even if the company is not a family owned business, replacing the CEO is far down the list of preferred options for strengthening the leadership position.

The process of strengthening leadership is detailed in my free course “How To Increase Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less” which you can subscribe to at www.stevepohlit.com This article will further enhance your understanding as to the actions I have taken with clients that have been successful in creating leaders that have helped their companies build revenue and profits.

I have found most leaders do not have a clear plan for making money and so they cannot guide their organization to success. The second most common issue I find is that where a leader does have a plan for making money, they fail to follow the steps that are needed to be taken each day and each week to implement the plan. I would say that among the CEOs I have counseled, most know what makes them money, most know how to make more money, but many do not have the disciplined process in place to make it happen.

My most recent client is a great example and is the motivator for me writing this article. This client absolutely knows how to do the work of their business. The CEO is a master of this work and teaches others how to do this work well. They are awful at knowing how to make money at what they do. In fact, they do not get receive accurate information on their business performance and without change they never will because there is nobody employed in this company who has the training and skills required to produce the information they need. We are fixing that. This is more common than you think. Even where there are people trained on providing required information, it is often too little and too late.

Step number 1 is to make sure there is a clear understanding of what makes a company money and how. Step number 2 is to fine tune the day to day resource allocation so people spend their time making money. Day to day means every day and this is where we run into problems. It is not human nature to follow a disciplined schedule every day no mater how important the tasks are to making money. This discipline deficiency factor is often most acute among CEOs who are entrepreneurs and CEOs who are leaders because they were born into it. So it is important to teach them Steps 1 and 2 first and then if that doesn’t work another person is likely to be needed as the company’s day to day leader.

Recently in Business Week, Jack and Suzy Welsh advised a family member concerned about business direction to recruit a CEO. I really hesitate to disagree with Jack since he has been so successful as the now retired CEO of G.E., but in my experience many companies do not have the experience to hire an experienced and highly qualified CEO. Some that come to this conclusion will rely on a recruiter. This can work but is very risky. Of course I am going to recommend the right consultant. Are there others besides me that will guide you on the approach that I recommend? Yes I am sure there are. If you decide to talk with your banker, attorney, outside accountant, tax accountant, prospective consulting firms or your neighbor, here is what you need to do first:

1. Make sure you have a clear definition of what makes money in your business and how much. This means you need to have good information on revenue trends and gross margin by categories of revenue source.
2. Objectively define your human resource strengths and weaknesses.
3. Accurately forecast your near term cash inflows and expenditures. The worksheet I provide in my free course that I mentioned earlier details how this should be done.
4. Outline what you believe is the best near term strategy for your business (12 months or less) based on your company’s history and performance in the past six months.
5. Take a couple sheets of paper and see what your actual organization chart looks like. Enter the pay for each person you include on this functional organization chart.

The above five steps are not all you will need but when someone is advising you on how to run your business or how to recruit a leader, they better be bringing up at least four out of five of the above or you should be running away from that meeting as fast as you can.

Does a strong leader guarantee business success? There are no guarantees but a strong leader who is fixated on the handful of actions that make the most difference in revenue and profits will give your company the best chance for success long term.

To Your Extraordinary Success,
Steve Pohlit, Business Consultant
www.stevepohlit.com
www.stevereports.com

P.S. I am developing a new blog at www.successtips.us You are invited to check it out and submit your own success tip.

Blogging for Profits Issue No.9 How To Use The Powerful Motivators Recognition and Praise In A Special Blog To Help Grow Profits

Blogging for Profits Issue No.9 How To Use The Powerful Motivators Recognition and Praise In A Special Blog To Help Grow Profits

You probably have noticed companies in the hospitality industry encouraging customers or visitors to acknowledge outstanding service, or to comment on their dining or hotel experience. Maybe you have read a survey card delivered with a the check at a restaurant. There are businesses where you are asked to write a note or complete a form if an employee did something extremely well and made the experience at that place of business more pleasant than you expected. Some companies send on line and off line surveys asking for feedback.

All of these programs were started and then duplicated by someone who realized that by asking for feedback you demonstrate you are interested in doing things better and want your customers to be happy. Employee recognition programs were started by someone who knows that praise and recognition are the two most powerful motivators.

Blog are a great tool to further enhance the customer comment and employee recognition programs. This article details how using blogs for customer feedback and employee recognition should be structured. When implemented properly, revenue and profits will increase as direct result of this effort. In this Blogging for Profits series, every issue is focused on how to use blogs to increase revenue and profits. All prior issues can be found at www.stevereports.com Register now at the main page and read all the issues starting with No. 4 Issues 1-3 are posted in their entirety at the blog.