Category: Marketing

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Relationship Capital and Leverage

Relationship Capital

The value of the relationships you have and are developing is relationship capital. This is the single biggest reason for my career moving forward again in 2009 after being stalled for a number of years. It was late summer 2009 and I had successfully launched an on line membership site using social media marketing. However, financial prosperity was not developing as I preferred. I reflected on my situation at that point in comparison to those periods in my career when I was “on my game” and doing very well financially. I identified personal contact with highly successful people as being the difference. In 2009 I was connected with a large group of people online. However, my personal connections were largely dormant. I made a commitment to reestablish a vibrant network with successful people….I visualized that already being in place. Several weeks later, I received a phone call from a person I didn’t know. However, I spent time with him and that one call led to an acceleration of my business and real estate coaching career. Most importantly, it led to a rapid acceleration of my network with successful people.

The door was opened and I worked it very hard and still do today. The relationship capital continues to get stronger because I focus on bringing as much or more value to the relationship as I gain from it. In the Universe it is called the Law of Reciprocity. You may be familiar with “what goes around, comes around” or what you send out comes back to you. Personally adding value to another is my greatest reward. Just yesterday I received an email thanking me for the work we did in 2011. The person said he would have most likely lost his business had it not been for our relationship and our coaching.

This is so important I am modifying one of the chapters in The Book on Business Profits which is in development. In this message I will share with you several key steps you can take to build your relationship capital in a major way even if you are in a situation with very limited financial resources. Relationship capital extends to our personal lives as well and that is a subset for a future article.

Leverage

Leverage is a term that is not well understood in the business sense. I summary, leverage is where you focus on where your talents are best used and work with others who have complementary skills for work that is needed in your business. For example, in the real estate investment business there are just several key categories of activity including: finding the deals, renovating the properties and sourcing the funding. Some people are very skilled with building and repairing. I can assure you I am not one of those people so I find those with that skill set. One important point if you are responsible for your business…you cannot leverage the responsibility for being the leader. If you don’t want to be a leader then you probably are best served working on someone else’s team or for a company. There is nothing wrong with being a team member or working for a company. I held a number of those positions and those experiences contributed to my growth and development.

Five Steps To Developing Relationship Capital Right Now Even If You Are Not Connected With Anyone Successful and Have Very Limited Financial Resources

1. Network Marketing or MLM – I am a major advocate of quality companies in this industry because of the network you can build and the training you will receive for very little money. The one principle that took me many years to learn was to market those products that many people are already buying and using. With that criteria in mind there are primarily two businesses I suggest everyone take a close look at because you will benefit greatly from using the products and they are easy to suggest to others. Both of these businesses have greatly enhanced the incentives to getting started right now. They are:

a. Send Out Cards – I love this as I can send cards more economically sitting in front of my computer than I can going to the store, picking out a card, writing a note, addressing it and mailing it. You can get started in this business as a business owner for about $300. Imagine that for $300 you can be in business and if you don’t want to be in that business, people will love getting cards from you. Sending cards is the number one tool in my view for building relationship capital following a personal meeting. Click Here Now for More Information

b. Organo Gold – Amazing health benefits just by drinking what most people are already drinking…coffee , tea, hot chocolate. This article will be on line for a long time. Right now and for the next 60 days I know you can join this business by acquiring a special gold pak for $500. That is how I joined the company nearly a year ago. Gold members are positioned for maximum compensation. Normally a gold pak is about $1,200 which is still a deal but $500 is better. Click Here For More Information

c. Coaching – joining a coaching program is much more than having an expert help you. The right coach will help you build relationship capital. You will be hiring an expert which takes funds. Personally I have my next level of coaching expertise identified and will hire that person as soon as possible.

d. Leverage your time and skills with people who have funds to put to work. For example I would love an energetic person to introduce Organo Gold to every independent coffee shop in my market and help charitable organizations understand how this product line can help them raise sizable funds. I am prepared to sponsor them, and help them with some expenses like the cost of samples and gas for their car. In the real estate business, we are always looking for people who want to learn real estate investing and want to become an apprentice with us. They need to be able to fund their personal expenses for 4-6 months. There are other ways to leverage once you start thinking in terms of what you can bring to the table in terms of time and skills and combine that with a deal partner interested in putting their money to work. Note if you are in the situation of limited funding it will require alot of work to find a person who will work with you and support your plan.

e. Network business events, training events, charitable events, political fund raisers, social events and more.

Summary – Relationship Capital is key to your success, Leverage is key to you optimizing productivity and performance.

Contact me now.

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Steve Pohlit is a CPA,MBA and has been the CFO of several major domestic and international companies. Today Steve is an expert business consultant focused on helping companies improve their business performance including growing profits, revenues and customers. For a FREE 6 week mini course where you will receive 10 easy to implement action steps guaranteed to increase business revenue and profits by at least 30% in the next 90 days, please visitwww.StevePohlit.com All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Retailers Do Not Have To Struggle To Win Customers

Mark Albright, staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times published an article in the Sunday paper on retailers struggling to win back customers. He does an excellent job at identifying the key issues customers face when shopping in many stores. In summary, customers know what they want from their shopping experience and they don’t get what they want most of the time.

Two charts were provided in the article. One showed that 68.4% of those responding to a recent poll said knowledgeable, helpful, friendly staff was the most important criteria for a positive shopping experience. The other chart reported that 50% of the people surveyed reported retail service has gotten worse.

Shoppers have always wanted a friendly environment with knowledgeable staff. What is most alarming is how poorly retailers continue to meet the expectations of their customers. With almost 70% of the customers ranking knowledgeable, friendly staff as most important, why is it that so many retailers continue to be obsessed with having compelling price? Studies have consistently shown and Mark points this out in his article as well, that less than 10% of the shoppers name price as the most important reason they shop a store.

Let’s examine pricing and promotion a bit deeper. The paper that Mark Albright writes for has a daily circulation of 1.2 million. On Sunday, like all large metropolitan areas, the paper is thick. Most of it is advertising circulars. Most have between 4 – 20 or more color glossy pages and this format is used by most of the major retail chains. Stores attempt to show items attractive to the largest number of people and offer special buys or sale pricing. The goal is to drive traffic to the stores.

Normally on a store by store basis, retailers are able to tell how effective a particular circular was by measuring customer count (customers that actually buy), average sale and items sold. Most retailers have these statistics, but there is one critical piece of information they do not have. They do not know who it was that purchased something. They do not know their physical address, they do not know their email address and do not know their customer’s phone number. There are exceptions and I will address those shortly. However, in general, large and small retailers spend huge amounts of money on print advertising to drive customers into their stores and they don’t even know who their customer is. Consequently, they are unable to thank the buyers, hear their comments and suggestions and they are not able to personally invite them back.

Here is a brief summary of the issues so far: consumers want knowledgeable and friendly sales staff and over 90% of them place importance on knowledge and friendliness over price. On the other hand, retailers spend a lot of resources developing promotions based on price to drive traffic to their stores. When the customer gets there, not just the price shopper but the loyal customers as well, the retailer is not properly staffed and the staff that is working is not properly trained and managed. I call this a mismatch in expectations and delivery. The result of that formula is a high rate of retail business failure with stores that fail being replaced by new ones that operate the same way. You know what you get when you keep doing things the same way. What is the solution? Keep reading.

When the subject of price in retailing is mentioned, Wal-Mart’s name always comes up. Here are just a couple of things I noticed about Wal-Mart recently. First they are increasing the number of more upscale items offered. Why are they doing this? It is because they understand that appealing just to the low price crowd long term is a risky business model. No retail chain founded on the low price model has ever survived long term. None. What else have I noticed? The other day I noticed a Wal-Mart banner on the front page of Yahoo.com This particular ad was what is known in the Internet Marketing circles and Direct Response Marketing circles as a lead generation ad. I followed it through and noticed interesting “bribes” to get you to register for on line information. You could even categorize the information you were interested in receiving. Wal-Mart promised to give you advance notice of their best deals for the store closest to you. Notice I said store closest to you. When you entered your information they asked for your zip code so they could match you with relevant regional promotion.

Wal-Mart is taking the lead again in building their customer data base. I don’t think they have taken this to the store level, which where it really needs to be implemented. But they are headed in the right direction.

Do you need to have Wal-Mart’s system to implement a similar program? Last September I was testing the implementation of program with a small retailer in a small market. You can review more of the detail of this program at www.localretailmarketing.com We used incentives as a motivator to provide their contact information. This program was hugely successful in a short period of time and confirmed the value of capturing the contact information of your customers and communicating with them. That is the first step in bridging the gap between what customers want and what retailers deliver. Note: if you are a grocery store, restaurant, nightclub, shoe repair store, dry cleaner or any business that has customers, this applies to you.

If you are a local or regional chain of stores, outsourcing this customer contact program is the most cost effective approach. If you are not sure that is a true statement Email Me and I will prove it to you. National Chains should outsource this program in the test phase and then it is likely that in-house technology will be needed long term. Regardless, it is easy to build your customer list, easy to communicate with them and this communication builds loyalty and value. This communication process is the critical link that breaks down when this process is managed internally. In summary, outsource this entire program initially; bring the technology piece in house if and when that makes sense but keep the communication program outsourced.

Does all of this solve the problem of bridging the gap of what the customer wants and what the retailer delivers? Absolutely not! All of the fundamentals retailers are paying attention to today must continue. Having the right product in the right place at the right time is a good goal. Having staff properly trained and managed is a great goal. But this is the planet earth folks. When all the best logistical systems and human resource development processes fail .. and they will from time to time, a strong binding relationship with your customer will overcome any isolated execution failures.

Are there any examples of anyone doing this more right than wrong? I remember in 1996 when I was in my second year of operating an Internet Service Provider company that I founded. I was focusing on industries likely to benefit a lot quickly from using the tools of the Internet. One of them was mail order. I knew there would be huge benefits to catalogue retailers from using the internet. Of course when I contacted many of them and they had no idea in 1996 what I was talking about. So I let it slide instead of pursuing that idea along with a number of other billion dollar ideas I had in the early days of the commercial Internet.

Today there are numerous examples of catalogue retailers doing a great job of communicating with their customer base. Now the big gains are coming from the “brick and mortar” companies who are communicating like catalog retailers. Who are they? Well Circuit City gets my number one vote. Circuit City sends me wonderful emails in addition to their weekly print advertising circulars. Wal-Mart is doing a good job now that I am on their list. In the catalog retail business, the best is Fredericks of Hollywood. Don’t even ask me why I am on their list but they do a great job. There are other catalogue retailers that have an effective communication program in place. In fact if you order on line from any catalogue company and give them your email address, I would bet you start getting information from them. Even if you don’t order, sign up for some of these lists to see what they send you.

The biggest mistake made by companies that have you in their data base, is dropping your contact information when you have not purchased for awhile. I know of one very popular retailer with a huge mail order division that sends me tons of catalogues but not one email. When asked about this I was told I no longer receive emails because I am not a current buyer. But they continue sending me expensive to print and mail catalogues. Go figure! Recently I was talking about this issue with an author and speaker on retail industry issues and discovered the huge successes several companies are having by aggressively pursuing customers who have become inactive. However, you need to know your customer and have their contact information in your data base to execute any program including this one.

In summary, study the companies that are doing this well. Look at your own business. If you are not sure what I am advising you to do will work, call or email me and let’s “kick it around”. Click to email or go to Retail Profit System for phone contact information. I am so convinced that there is a great need for help in this area I have recently partnered with several business development experts and we have formed a new company that will provide the Internet marketing services retailers and others need. Look for a major announcement soon on this advanced service for helping your business dramatically improve revenue and profits.

Contact me now.

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Dunkin Donuts vs. Starbucks

Dunkin Donuts wanted to know. To find out they offered to send their customers to Starbucks and paid them to go there and drink and eat. But they also paid Starbuck customers to come to Dunkin Donuts to eat and drink. In exchange, the people involved agreed to answer Dunkin Donut’s questions.

This test was reported by the WSJ and what Dunkin Donuts discovered was that there are very loyal people to both businesses and they are not interested in the competitor. The Starbucks Tribe will continue to go to Starbucks and the Dunkin Donuts tribe will continue to go to Dunkin Donuts. That was the conclusion.

Why did Dunkin Donuts conduct this test? The business of Dunkin Donuts has a strategy of growing and attracting more customers. So they want to know more about what appeals to people. Of course they could have their customers in a data base and communicate with them regularly and offer them incentives for answering survey’s, but that is all the subject of my rant in other articles at www.stevereports.com

Duncan Donuts used a traditional focus group approach. Duncan Donuts is to be commended on testing. They are to be commended on wanting to know what changes, upgrades, new product offerings will appeal to their customer. When you review their history, you may conclude they should have done this more often. The facts are most companies fall into the trap of not reinventing themselves. Why is this important to do? Well, look at Kmart. Do you recall when they were in Chapter 11? How about Delta airlines and General Motors? Do you think Microsoft can be in trouble? What about Google and EBay? Interesting to look at history and then ask the hard questions?

There are lessons to be learned from the work done by Duncan Donuts. I remember working with the leaders if The Limited when they were the premier retailer in America. The culture was amazing. New fashion ideas, new store formats, new promotions were always being tested. Merchandise managers were expected to bring their insights of what the competition was doing to the famous weekly Monday meetings where performance was scrutinized. The point is every company has a development history and at a point in time if you become a champion, a challenger emerges. This is the “king of the hill” game and as kid we didn’t know it was a universal law but it seems that it is. Whenever you are winning someone will be out to take your place.

How do you sustain revenue and profit growth long term? How do you do that when as soon as you are on top there is a challenger? In The Profit System I teach how to track information that tells you how you are doing. Initially, the information is developed for you to track actual vs. plan and the plan is your own performance improvement plan. This evolves to where you are confident in your ability to achieve internal targets, then you set your site on local, regional, national or international champions. At that point your goal is to be the champion. By the way The Profit System course is FREE.

Why is that? Why do I offer something that I promote as being so valuable for FREE when I should be selling it for a million dollars or 10 million dollars or more? Simple, I know this works, and as Joel Bauer says (www.joellive.com) my life does not change at all if you use what I teach. But yours is likely to change a lot. If I can be a catalyst of positive change for you and your company, I am delighted to offer these principles and The Profit System to you at no charge.

Wait there is one more thing. There is a major price to pay for using this system. This price is your time, attention and action to implement. My material is FREE. Even if I were to charge $50,000 for the this material and I am considering that, it is a small sum in comparison to the time you and your company will invest to apply the principles of The Profit System. Return on investment is off the charts. So if you want to make a lot more money go to The Profit System and register for the FREE course.

Will Ducan Donuts’ latest testing mean new store formats will be hugely successful? I don’t know but I do know this if they keep monitoring and keep testing they will figure it out. You can also solve the issues facing your business with a rational management system. I have given you one source for a management system roadmap.

Contact me now.

International Business Development Consulting
Real Estate Investment Consulting
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Connect With Steve On:

727-587-7871

Steve offers his build business profits expertise to companies and entrepreneurs with business coaching and business consulting. His focus is on building business profits and net asset value at above average rates. Steve incorporates health and wellness plus relationship guidance in his work as they are at the foundation of achieving all goals.

All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Most Retailers Miss This Huge Black Friday Opportunity

The ads are prolific for the biggest retail sales day (not profit) of the year…Black Friday. However, most businesses including physical retail store never go the extra step of developing a relationship with their customer.

Black Friday Sales are Brisk and Largely Unprofitable – Should Be Viewed As Lead Generation

Shopping Savvy customers are more often than ever making their list of deals, buying the deals and leaving. Cross over selling is declining. This means that most of the sales on Black Friday are unprofitable or just slightly profitable. Attention: take advantage of Black Friday’s increased traffic and look at it as a great lead generation opportunity.

Why Do Retailers Continue Black Friday Promotion If They Are Not Profitable?

If retailers do not compete on Black Friday someone else will grab that customer and there will be a loss of customer loyalty. Several years ago WalMart moderated their Black Friday and holiday promotion strategy and it was costly. Following that season they vowed never to be out of that game again. Since you are in the game capitalize on the the traffic at a minimum with a name and email capture campaign include text messaging lead capture if it is appropriate for your business.

Most Retailers Continue To Ignore A Great Opportunity When A Customer or Prospect Walks In The Door.

Customer Relationship Marketing is a huge opportunity. People want information and want to know “their store cares”. It is insane to focus on recruiting the store staffing with the right image and customer service attitude then not go the extra step to capture name and email address for a follow-up thank you.

For an increasing number of businesses adding text messaging marketing makes sense. However, it will not replace email marketing anytime soon. Email marketing and text message marketing will not replace the positive feeling someone gets when they receive a physical card. There are many businesses that should Send Out Cards.

I advise every one of my clients to implement a relationship marketing campaign. There are numerous success stories. A recent very notable one is a company just beginning to implement a relationship marketing strategy and the results are very positive in less than 60 days. The winter season is the slowest time for their business. There have been cash flow problems in the past. This season is shaping up to be very different in a positive way.

Action Steps:

Develop a customer relationship marketing strategy. Part of the relationship is educating your customer on products, services. Focus on the value you deliver rather than the latest deal.

Get A Business Coach! If you already have a business with more than 10 employees, Hire A Consultant who is able to work with you part of the time on-site.

Would you like to be in the next group of very successful companies and entrepreneurs?

Contact me now.

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All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Greeting Cards Make A Lasting Impression…Send Out A Card …No Charge Today!!

Birthdays and major holidays are the most common times when we send and receive cards. Other events are graduations, engagements, weddings, sympathy, birth. One often missed is a simple thank you card.

I have not been great a sending cards. Going to the card shop, selecting a card and getting it mailed was something I just did not do very often. That is changing for me because I finally paid attention to Send Out Cards This system is awesome. I am building my address book in the system. If you already have a good address book on line, you can import it with ease.

Major Benefits and Features of Send Out Cards

The cards and gifts are more economical than most you will find in the store
Select a card, design a card from your computer and send it with a push of the button
Use the retail system right now (just click here)
If you are interested in what possibly is the perfect business, join as a representative. When you send cards you are actually marketing this business.
This is the perfect system for realtors, business owners, entrepreneurs as Send Out Cards is the best system for supporting your appreciation marketing program.

State of The Art Features

Add your own pictures
Upload your actual signature
Use OCR code which links to your own custom video
Design your own gifts

I think the most surprising part of Send Out Cards is the cost of sending a card or card and gift. You may be aware that the cost of the products marketed by most direct selling companies or network marketing businesses is higher than comparable retail prices. The cost of Send Out Cards is actually lower plus there is the convenience of selecting and sending cards and gifts right from you computer.

Click Here Now And Send Someone You Care About A Card ….See How Easy It Is Plus You Can Send A Card FREE Today!

Action Steps

Get A Business Coach! If you already have a business with more than 10 employees, Hire A Consultant who is able to work with you part of the time on-site.

Would you like to be in the next group of very successful companies and entrepreneurs?

Contact me now.

Business Development Consulting
International Business and Real Estate Investment Coach

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

Connect With Steve On:

Phone: 727-587-7871

Steve offers his build business profits expertise to companies and entrepreneurs with business and real estate coaching and consulting. His focus is on building business profits and net asset value at above average rates. Steve incorporates health and wellness plus relationship guidance in his work as they are at the foundation of achieving all goals.

All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Service Wins The Game

“Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you in the game. Service wins the game.!” Tony Alexandr

During a recent call that I co-host on a monthly basis with George Ross for a select private group of business owners and entrepreneurs, we discussed how to create the “wow factor” in non-real estate businesses like a convenience store or hardware store. George advised all to focus on the personal touch. Sure appearances and merchandising are important. Getting to know your customer, demonstrating a sincere interest in the person is what keeps people coming back.

I have no favorite stores any longer. I mostly shop on line and even the on line experience is mixed with ease of shopping. I do have a few favorite restaurants and as a business traveler I have a few (very few) favorite hotels. However, nearly every day there is an opportunity for a business to provide memorable service and they do. Trouble is the memories are not very positive in most cases.

Here is a recent example. It happened this morning. Jos A Bank is offering a two day buy 1 get 2 free special. There are a couple items I really like from that store. This is a great opportunity for a deal. However, their on line shopping cart is not working properly for the special. So I called and a pleasant lady helped me by phone. When I received my order confirmation, it was wrong …very obviously wrong since there was only one of an item I order instead of three. I called back to customer service and hopefully the order will be correct now.

Look at all the steps and look at the additional time and look at the impression I have of this business. Now I will shop again when I see a great deal since there are items where I like the fit and quality. Guess what there are many places where I can get the right fit and quality. I am not finding places where I feel I am honored as a customer. See the opportunity?

I know if I were to visit certain specialty stores I would receive personalized attention. However, I do not have the time and neither do a lot of other people. There are a growing number of businesses that promote deals: Groupon , Deal of the Day and many more. Nobody is promoting service…big opportunity.

Speaking of service ….that’s my business. Actually your success is my business.

Action Steps

Get A Business Coach! If you already have a business with more than 10 employees, Hire A Consultant who is able to work with you part of the time on-site.

Would you like to be in the next group of very successful companies and entrepreneurs?

Contact me now.

Business Development Consulting
Executive Coach

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

Connect With Steve On:

727-587-7871

All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Recession , US Default, Foreclosures….What Is The Solution

The Real Question Is What Is the Solution For You?

Stop reading the newspapers, watching TV and engaging in conversations with co-workers and others about negative news headlines. George Ross, Donald Trump’s key attorney and deal closure reminds us that most news is not credible or at least not the complete picture. As importantly, the most immediate item that affects us individually is what we do for ourselves.

Wayne Allyn Root coaches his clients on implementing a success plan that is not dependent on an employer. More specifically start your own business. Wayne uses the opportunities for learning marketing and developing a network that is taught by direct sales companies or network marketing companies. This is one great opportunity to be your own boss, work with other successful people and not have to worry about what an employer will do.

One of the areas of my own business interests is being with an organization that coaches business owners and other interested in successful real estate investing how to move forward and achieve continually increasing performance goals.

The theme here is individual responsibility for what happens in your life. Most of us have the resources to move forward and do a lot better than we are doing today. I like the example I heard once where the question was asked “if you had the opportunity to buy a new $100,000 car for $5000 would you be able to figure out how to come up with the $5000? Most everyone said yes. Then why would you ever resist the opportunity to start your own business because you didn’t have a couple thousand dollars you need for basic infrastructure and expenses during the start up period?

Are you unemployed? Are you struggling to make ends meet? Are you unhappy with the work you do? Don’t look outside of yourself for someone to solve these or any other issue. Do you feel you don’t have enough knowledge or education? I just finished a couple days of coaching a person who has three businesses, lives in a million dollar home with a quarter million dollar boat outside. He is a high school graduate. He figured it out. You probably know of others like him or read about them.

If you want some ideas, email me. I also highly recommend attending Mega Partnering 4 where you will meet incredible people . Figure out a way to buy a VIP ticket where you will have dinner with the featured speakers and business leaders attending. Are you nervous about meeting successful people and not sure what to say or do? Register for my email list on this page and look for an article real soon on what I have found to be the most effective networking skills and how easy it is for anyone to follow those steps. I was taught these skills and will share them with my readers.

Bottom line: you are responsible and the only way to solve any situation you don’t prefer in your life is to develop an action plan and then take action.

Action Steps

Get A Business Coach! If you already have a business with more than 10 employees, Hire A Consultant who is able to work with you part of the time on-site.

Would you like to be in the next group of very successful companies and entrepreneurs?

Contact me now.

Business Development Consulting
Executive Coach

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

Connect With Steve On:

1. Click Here to visit Root For America and meet Wayne Allyn Root.

727-587-7871

All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Root For Success….Wayne Allyn Root Speaks On Today’s Opportunities

Wayne Allyn Root is the leading candidate for the Presidential nomination by the Libertarian Party in 2012. He is best known today for his energetic outspoken views on individual freedom which means he is very outspoken on the reason for the debt, unemployment, restrictions to business growth and other less than desirable situations the US finds itself in today.

I have the honor of hosting a private monthly call with Wayne. This experience has helped me understand his passionate focus on the opportunity for individuals to become very successful in any economic environment. This was very evident in Wayne’s response to a key question asked during a recent call that I am able to share with you. In summary, the question was about how an individual can make a difference in our society dominated by growing government and debt. Wayne advised us to focus on the opportunities for individual success. He said there are more than 3,000 new millionaires every day in the US. These people are achieving this success by taking action.

The number one action step successful people take is to start their own business. Wayne highlighted a recent article in a major national publication detailing the benefits of network marketing. I spoke of my experience coaching people developing a real estate investment business. Wayne shared a number of examples of his success starting with an idea and relentlessly pursuing the idea. He is relentlessly pursuing at path that will take him to the White House. He has never failed to achieve something he set out to do and this will be no exception.

Action Steps

2. Register for his alerts.

3. The calls are for a select group. However, I do have an inside track. If you are interested in being a member, email me and I will see what I can do.

Business Development Consulting
Executive Coach

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

Connect With Steve On:

1. Click Here to visit Root For America and meet Wayne Allyn Root.

727-587-7871

All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Root For Success….Wayne Allyn Root Speaks On Today's Opportunities

Action Steps

2. Register for his alerts.

3. The calls are for a select group. However, I do have an inside track. If you are interested in being a member, email me and I will see what I can do.

Business Development Consulting
Executive Coach

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

Connect With Steve On:

727-587-7871

All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

The iPhone, ATT, Verizon : Great Lessons What Is Your Experience

The iPhone Is Coming To Verizon …Very Soon

The Wall Street Journal’s lead article Friday confirms Verizon will offer the iPhone soon. Reportedly Verizon will announce the details Tuesday.

In a related article, Apple has issued a directive to all stores that there will be no vacations for three weeks beginning the fourth week of January. I couldn’t be happier with the opportunity to switch from ATT My view is shared with everyone I know who has an iPhone

The Number One Reason This Announcement Is A Big Deal

Everyone that I know including myself loves the iPhone and hates ATT’s service. Apple recognizes this since a big percentage of the volume of calls to their customer service center are because of ATT not resolving customer issues having nothing to do with Apple.

I have previously written detailed article about my experience started trying to work with ATT for a solution. In summary, I have good experience overall across the US and Canada. The area that I use my phone the most which is my home office and surrounding areas is almost impossible for me to use my phone. This area has plenty of towers and ATT reports I should have great service but of course I don’t

This announcement is a huge deal because it demonstrates Apple’s laser beam focus on customer satisfaction and highlights in my view ATT’s mishandling an iPhone market domination opportunity.

Lessons: Apple Strategy Outstanding, Verizon Strategy a Plus ATT Strategy Doesn’t Work

I have experience with both Verizon and ATT. Recently I tested another phone with Verizon and I was very pleased with the entire experience including the attention at the Verizon owned store, customer service, billing and phone service. The only reason I didn’t changes was that at the same time I was testing a new phone I read Verizon would be carrying the iPhone and I wanted to wait.

Apple has done a great job of developing strong customer loyalty. I am sure there are people who have given up their iPhone to switch to another service after being worn out by ATT but I don’t know any of them. Everyone I know who has an iPhone wants to keep it. Apple understands what will appeal to the consumer and consistently delivers.

Verizon has been out there focused on offering a very strong cellular network. Every Verizion customer I know is happy with Verizon service and coverage….No Exceptions! My brief experience with the store staff, customer service and tech support was very positive. Verizon is focused on solutions and not excuses.

Verizon and Apple Together Should Be An Outstanding Experience For Consumers

This all makes for an excellent case study on how ATT did not capitalize on a huge opportunity. If they had consistently delivered on quality of coverage and customer care, Verizon would not have a chance. Now Verizon has the opportunity to take huge market share. I betting they will.

What Is Your Experience?…Please Comment

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Network or Go Home – Watch Now – This Will Be Shut Down

Awesome MEGAPartnering

Click Here Now and Join Us At MegaPartnering

You are invited to comment and all will be published.

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New Report: Trump To Run For President! Do you think this is true?

Newsmax.com released a story that Donald Trump will announce he will run for Present following the Spring season of The Apprentice. Click Here for the full report.

What do you think?

1. Do you think Donald will run

2. Do you think this is a ploy for more news coverage?

3. Would you vote for him?

You are invited to comment and all will be published.

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Great Think and Grow Rich Advice From Tampa Bay No B.S. Marketing

We’ll, it’s here. The last day of the year 2010.

How was it?
Have you accomplish everything you wanted to?
Did you have any successes, or
“Learning experiences”?

Why don’t you take few minutes and write down everything you’ve accomplished
and also make a list of things you wanted to accomplished but for one reason or another didn’t (use that list for 2011)

The great news is that when you wake up tomorrow, you’ll get to wipe the slate clean, reset the clock and start fresh.

As of tomorrow morning you’ll have another year, or 52 weeks, or 365 days, or 8760 hours, or 525,600 minutes to reach your goals, so make it count.

When I woke up this morning at 5:00, picked up Think and Grow Rich for the 3rd year in a row and read the first 2 chapters, I finally realized why all the successful people I know read this book year after year after year.

Even though it’s the 3rd time I’m reading it, it’s like I never read it before, or maybe I just wasn’t ready to receive the information until now, but I just couldn’t put it down.

If you have this book on your shelf collecting dust, I recommend you find it right now and start reading it. If you don’t have it, I found a PDF of it and attached it to this email for you.

Here is a short excerpt from page 35-36 that I thought would be very helpful to you:

“Every human being who reaches the age of understanding of the purpose of money, wishes for it. Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession,
then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches.

The method by which DESIRE for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent, consists of six definite, practical steps, viz:

First. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money.” Be definite as to the amount. (There is a psychological reason for definiteness which will be described in a subsequent chapter).

Second. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as “something for nothing.)

Third. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.

Fourth. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.

Fifth. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.

Sixth. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. AS YOU READ–SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

It is important that you follow the instructions described in these six steps. It is especially important that you observe, and follow the instructions in the sixth paragraph. You may complain that it is impossible for you to “see yourself in possession of money” before you actually have it. Here is where a BURNING DESIRE will come to your aid. If you truly DESIRE money so keenly that your desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you will acquire it. The object is to want money, and to become so determined to have it that you CONVINCE yourself you will have it.”

Anyway, enjoy the book, have fun celebrating everything you’ve achieved in 2010 and when you wake up tomorrow, hit the ground running and make 2011 the best year ever.

Happy New Year

Mira

Contact Mira Beck

NOBS Tampabay
PO BOX 7500
Wesley Chapel, Florida 33545
United States
(813) 810-6241

Courtesy of:

Take Action and Build Business Profits

Call me or email me and let’s discuss working together. All contact information follows.

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About: Steve Pohlit CPA,MBA has been the CFO and COO of major domestic and international companies. Steve has extensive business ownership experience having purchased and started off line and on line businesses. Steve offers his business building experience to companies and entrepreneurs with business coaching and business consulting. His focus is on building business profits and net asset value at above average rates. All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Social Media Synchronicity or A Blueprint For Building Profits With Social Media and Internet Marketing

There are many moving parts in the social media world and they are expanding exponentially as entrepreneurs and business giants develop tools capitalizing on the rapidly increasing numbers of people using social media resources to communicate and promote.

In 2009 I launched my first successful venture built entirely using social media resources. This means that I developed connections on key sites including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. I built awareness of my business by delivering valuable free content with the promise of more in-depth information for those who joined my membership site. If you want to see how that works, register for my free course at Manifest Mastermind.

I did almost all the social media building myself with the help of some automated tools for growing Twitter followers. In doing that I realized how much work was involved in building a social media network the right way and concluded most people would not do it. I began and still advise business owners and managers to outsource this work as a lot of it was actually rather tedious. I realized the business opportunity and established the company New Digitial Media, Inc. The sole purpose is to develop a social media and internet marketing development funnel for you.

I now have nearly three years experience using social media sites and tools for the purpose of building an marketing funnel that results in attracting targeted clients and customers. This article presents the foundation tools I started using in 2008 which are as relevant today as ever. This article also contains my latest thinking on the tools that everyone should consider for a well founded on line marketing funnel using social media and internet marketing tools.

Synchronicity

I chose that word because I learned from Robert Ringer that optimal success long term occurs most frequently when all components are working well together. I have included Internet Marketing in the title and reference it here because at the core of Internet Marketing are websites and email autoresponders. These continue to be integral components to the on line marketing silo of a larger building profits program. I teach the building profits foundation course to audiences across North America and use the in-depth modules with my consulting and coaching clients.

The Blueprint

This is a brief outline of The Online Marketing Blueprint. To include explanations at this point would result in a book. In fact I am writing The Book On Business Profits which will include details of the components of this Blueprint and a lot more. Register now at the quickly created by me without any graphics web page and you will receive bonus announcements plus text and audio samples of the book when it is released by the end of January.

The Blueprint Outline (non – diagram format):

Foundation Tools

Domain name that matches your business name (or at least close) Dot Com only
Website for branding
Wordpress based blog (not on WordPress.com) for building credibility and your list
Autoresponder Account

Foundation Social Media Tools

Facebook personal profile
Facebook business fan page (flow your articles and other relevant updates here)
Facebook group (only if you plan on being an active group leader)
Two Twitter accounts…one personal and one business. Use both for business
A LinkedIn account with a personal profile emphasizing your business
A YouTube account

The newest brand building tool you will soon here a lot more about is optional of course however, you should get started now with this. http://VideoTVTalk.com With this tool you can send branded email video messages, have branded webinars and on line meetings, your own branded TV site that can be pay per view if you want. I am really excited about this and I am working on my branded email backgrounds and branded page for my videos now. In the meantime Click Here to visit the site and check: out the features and benefits. One major benefit is that with your branded site and videos there is no advertisement or competitor diversions like we have with YouTube. See my first example of a private label site. Note you will be able to tell I have not used a professional designer. This is my first presentation of a branded video website. It took be a several hours of playing around to get this done on top of the time for the video. What is really cool is that this will all continue to get better. Click Here to check it out.

Note: Use Video TV Talk continue to use YouTube more about that in future articles and videos.

Local Search and Marketing

For most people, thinking in national or global terms for on line marketing is common. Local marketing seems to be confusing for many but it there are really few differences. All the foundation tools and accounts are valuable for most local businesses. The issue seems to be one of understanding. Local business owners often do not have the time to stay current with marketing opportunities and if they do then they do not have the time.

There is a huge opportunity for people to help local business with marketing. The problem with that is there are very few people who really understand market in relation to the number of businesses that need the help. So you have people promoting products and services to business owners who are not skilled and experienced.

I am beginning to recruit people who want to work with me and where I will show them the step by step process of how to introduce business profits building marketing to businesses and then coordinate the implementation with my company’s staff at New Digital Media, Inc. If you have an interest my contact information is below.

Return on Investment (ROI)

I only offer clients what they need to get started and make incremental profit. Companies need to see an ROI before being asked to invest larger amounts. With any business, including locally owned and operated businesses, a domain name and at least a basic website with contact information is essential. That way they can register as a company and come up on local search with engines like Google. Once that is in place then I want to address ways to build traffic to the site, build a list and build business.

Call To Action

All companies want their on line visitors to do just one of the following:

Physical visit if the business is retail or retail services

Buy on line if the company has an ecommerce business

Call

Subscribe to the list

Social media marketing, internet marketing must lead to a call to action. Now call me or email me and let’s discuss how we can work together. All contact information follows.

Thank you,

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Skyrocket The Value of Your Network At MEGA Partnering 2011

Success Tip #1 “Your Network Is Your Net Worth”

Throughout my career, whenever I was on top of my game there were very successful people in my network. During late August 2009 I made a commitment to renew and again form relationships with highly successful people.

JT Foxx

Shortly thereafter, I received a call from JT Foxx and in that instant I began to accelerate my network of highly successful people. In future articles I will share with you examples of people I am now connected with as a result of attending three Mega Partnering events in 2010. For example, Joe Sugarman who is a marketing legend and now I am honored to say he is a good friend. In my next article I will detail how I met Joe and the basis for that relationship growing. I am sure you will find valuable lessons in that story.

Gene Simmons

Gene Simmons founded one of the most famous rock bands in history KISS. What you may not know is Gene is an amazing marketer. Not only has KISS sold more than 50 million albums but he has orchestrated the branding and merchandising of hundreds of millions of dollars of KISS products.

Will you develop a close relationship with Gene Simmons if you attend Mega Partnering? This I know: there are a limited number of VIP tickets available that include having your picture taken with Gene in addition to a seat at the VIP dinner with Gene, Jay Abraham and more.

Why Should You Care About A Picture With A Celebrity?

It is about the people that celebrities like Gene Simmons, Wayne Allyn Root, Wayne Palmer and more attract. The quality of those attending . Meet our top mentoring student partners who are doing amazing deals throughout North America every week plus a large group of very successful people with money to invest and who looking for deal partners.

Don’t miss this event. Click Here for more information including a video of Gene Simmons being interviewed by Michael Eisner.

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Top 7 Steps For Strengthening Sales and Profits In The Restaurant Industry….Actually Applies To Most Businesses:

Top 7 Steps For Strengthen Sales and Profit In The Restaurant Industry….Actually Applies To Most Businesses:

1. Know your customer! People coming thought the door and buying should be acknowledged with an email or card and possibly more. How do you do this? You need to have their contact information and specifically an email address and now ideally their cell phone number.

Here is an idea on how you do that: Buy them a drink or a dessert in exchange for their information. Here is the key: when you identify a particularly important person, the owner comes to the table, welcomes them and offers to buy their dinner in exchange for the cell phone number so they can be alerted for a very special event. Now before you say this ticket could be $200 or more I ask you how worth it is to have the cell phone number for key text messages with VIP’s and I mean people whose net worth is in 8 figures. This is huge

2. Have a plan. Your financial plan should be an annual target that can then be detailed to a weekly plan.

3. Know your numbers. Traffic and sales by time of day. Track your trends. Use this information to market to your list. Invite them to slower times using incentives.

4. Use all proven marketing tools to help grow your business. These include direct mail to targeted zip codes and ads with a “hook” in publications your target customer reads and other venues like radio, participation at key charitable events, local/regional festivals that are for your target audience, on line promotions and more.

5. Have your on line credibility in place meaning a website and social media presence

6. Use a referral marketing system. Reward people for inviting their friends and colleagues.

7. Monitor the variances from plan in all areas of your business. Nothing is excluded: payroll, food costs, utilities….the gold is in the detailed analysis of the variances.

Now You Know…Success Is In The Details. Failure is almost always a result of not consistently following the steps that have been proven to lead to success.

Steve Pohlit

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Wayne Allyn Root Is The Guest..and What They Are Saying

“He is loud, colorful, opinionated, often outrageous and controversial. He isn’t afraid to state his opinions on anything and everything.”

Bill Maher, Former Host of ABC’s “Politically Incorrect”

“The Odds-maker of EVERYTHING!”

Donny Deutsch, Host on CNBC

“It’s no surprise that he has propelled himself to the highest echelons of success in the gaming, entertainment, business and publishing worlds. His exuberance, enthusiasm and winning smile speak volumes.”

Millionaire magazine

Hey Friend,

Above are testimonials about the special guest we’re having on our teleconference call tonight.

His name is Mr. Wayne Allyn Root.

He is a super successful business mogul having started several multi-million-dollar organizations and controls a Vegas gambling empire, dubbing him the “King of Vegas.”

Wayne will be one of our featured speakers at my Mega Partnering event, and as part of my all-content event pre-training series, I want you to join Wayne and I tonight at 6pm Pacific/7pm Mountain/8pm Central/9pm Eastern where he’ll share his insights on his mega success in business and life.

There are very few people on the planet who have the range and depth of real world experience like Wayne, and this is your chance to learn firsthand how he thinks, acts, works and wins.

Needless to say, Wayne is an interesting and charismatic personality and someone you should get to know tonight.

Lines on this call are limited, so you’ll want to be sure to dial in a few minutes early so you don’t miss out.

You can gain access to the by dialing into this number:

218-862-6400

Access Code: 369 2976

I hope you can make it on the call. It starts at 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central / 7pm Mountain / 6pm Pacific.

Best regards,

J.T. Foxx

P.S. The early bird scholarship deadline is near. Be sure to visit http://www.MegaPartnering.com for more details on this once-in-a-lifetime event.

Director: Business Consulting, Top 1 Coaching, and the JT Foxx Organization
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Customer Service For AT&T’s iPhone 3GS Network

Everyone I know who has an iPhone experiences drop calls. Some more than others. I am no exception except that I don’t accept dropped calls as normal.

In all fairness, my iPhone 3GS works very well most of the time. Recently I have spent time in California, Toronto, Chicago, Edmonton, Alberta. My home is in Florida. With all of this travel I had very little difficulty with service. My service issues begin when I near my home….within about 100 ft to be more precise. I have several iPhones since 2007 when the first iPhone was released. Since then I have had several periods of weak connectivity but overall I have not had a problem. That changed beginning late last year.

Once it was clear to me that something had changed and my phone was not the problem. I began calling AT&T. I think having to do that should be considered as a terrorist interrogation technique. There have been a couple people in that company I connect with who were very nice to talk to and demonstrated they understood the issue. They also assured me the problem would be fixed. The problem is not fixed. And tech support actually misrepresented the action the took. I was told today that an engineer had been dispatched to my home area and found nothing wrong. No engineer ever showed up and the most that was done was for someone to look at some screen and conclude their towers were operating properly. I never doubted that because a malfunctioning tower would be detected and fixed.

If I heard it once I heard this once I heard this at least 5 times just this week. We apologize, our towers are fine. Please be sure your software is up to date and turn your phone off and on as we sent some data or something to your phone. There is a lot more but the bottom line is, this issue is not resolved and the discussions I had with tech support were totally not helpful.

Business Marketing 101: make sure you invest in retaining the people who are doing business with you now.

Business Problem Solving 101: Variance are solved one person at a time.

Business Relationship Building 101: Almost nobody expects technology or any product for that matter to work perfectly all the time. It is how you handle the problem that determines whether you are building positive or negative goodwill.

My Conclusion About AT&T

1. There are indicators AT&T’s network is inadequate and Apple which is an excellent company will find alternatives.
2. AT&T continues to fuel negative goodwill
3. Markets have a way of compensating for weakness. Look at how many companies that were once huge have or are near closing their doors.

Key Lesson For Those Learning Business Principles: Pay attention to what the losers do and then …don’t do that.

Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coach
Turnaround/Crisis Management
Temporary CEO, CFO, Controller Services
International Business Resources

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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 The Managing Director of Top 1 Coaching/Consulting of The JT Foxx Organization. He is an expert business coach and consultant focused on building massive business profits and net asset value. He is very experienced with Internet marketing and social media marketing. All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Customer Service For AT&T's iPhone 3GS Network

Everyone I know who has an iPhone experiences drop calls. Some more than others. I am no exception except that I don’t accept dropped calls as normal.

Business Marketing 101: make sure you invest in retaining the people who are doing business with you now.

Business Problem Solving 101: Variance are solved one person at a time.

My Conclusion About AT&T

Key Lesson For Those Learning Business Principles: Pay attention to what the losers do and then …don’t do that.

Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coach
Turnaround/Crisis Management
Temporary CEO, CFO, Controller Services
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

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On Line Marketing: The Formula I Recommend And Why

Question: What Is The Goal of Business Growth Marketing?

Answer: Traffic and Conversion!

What this means is that in order to grow your business with new customers, there needs to be a stream of relevant traffic interested in what it is you offer. Your job is to move this traffic from interested to “I’ll Take It” !

Question: How do you move people from being interested to buyers?

Answer: In my experience, people become buyers when a relationship and trust is established. Also, for professional services and many physical products, people want to talk to a person before making a final decision. Contact information including an email address and phone number is very important.

Building A Relationship On Line

The process that has worked for me has at it’s foundation a blog. The blog has a contact capture form with a reason for people to give you that information. Their name goes into a autoresponder system for follow- up messages with value added content. Value added content can be tips, a link to another blog article, examples of what is working and direct educational material. Each follow on email should have a signature with a link for more information and contact information.

The blog is the home for valuable content or articles that offer valuable information. This can be current news and relevant “how to” information. Offering examples of what is working is another terrific way of offering value. Marketing messages can be in the signature and the article itself can be structured so the reader understands how your offer is a solution for their interests.

In summary, the blog and the autoresponder sequence is key to building trust and establishing a relationship. Links in the blog and emails can direct the reader to a direct sales page or a contact page.

With this foundation in place and continually growing, you now have the source of material for valuable updates using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Social Media is a major tool for helping you build your business. I recommend you look at your social media network as an asset for your business that will continually become more valuable if it is properly managed.

Twitter

I always recommend using at least two accounts, one personal and one business. Twitter seems to regularly modify how it is enforcing its terms of service. Having multiple accounts reduces the risk of going completely off of Twitter because of an account suspension. However, if you post quality messages to valuable content plus use tweets that have no URL in them that demonstrate you are interacting, they you should not have any problems with account suspension.

Building a Twitter following and managing tweets through that network can be a significant commitment of time. I highly recommend leveraging or outsourcing a lot of this work. My company New Digital Media, Inc. has been established specifically to help you with this.

Facebook

There are three primary channels on Facebook that should be used that do not cost money. One channel is pay per click advertising does cost money. Regarding pay per click on Facebook, my initial tests are positive. It appears advertising on Facebook is cost effective. More on this in a future article.

The first area that should be built on Facebook is your profile. There are many exceptions to the rule that profiles are to be personal. Currently I do not advise spending time building a business profile as there is a high risk of being deactivated. Your personal profile can and should have clear links to your business.

My focus has been on building my profile and my friends list is primarily for business purposes. As I approached the 5,000 friends limit on Facebook I created a fan page. While I am not a fan of the label fan page, it is channel for expanding your network and there are no limits to the number of fans. If your goal is to build a fan page for a business (Facebook encourages business fan pages) then I recommend a build strategy that invites friends to a fan page, uses Twitter to promote your profile and fan page and test Facebook ads to build your fan page. I have seen very effective ad campaigns that have built fan pages fast so I know this works. If you build a fan page then you should have a communication strategy for developing the interest of your fans.

Facebook Groups are one of my favorites for building business since once a person joins your group, generally they are very interested in messages related to the topic of the group. For example, I have the group Build Business Profits on Facebook which ties into the theme of this blog as well as my social media blogs. The feedback I receive from messages sent to this group as well as several other targeted groups I have built is consistently positive.

Other Social Media Sites

I highly recommend using YouTube and I have done a lot of YouTube work in the past and will be stepping up my YouTube activity again this year. I also recommend LinkedIn There are many other social media sites and I have some work being done on a handful of other sites. However, with the growth in Facebook and Twitter I continue to concentrate on those two. Up and coming and closely being watched is Google Buzz.

The Number One Key Success Factor

While I am always building my social media network and the network for clients of New Digital Media, Inc. the most valuable asset in social media is the quality of information offered in articles and personal communication. With my own accounts and those of clients there is always a focus of adding value and blending with personal messages. I have no automated messages flowing through Facebook and I am paying increasing attention to the balance of non automated messages on Twitter.

My focus is having people connect with me on my offers. This is what I always advise clients as well. Consistently there is contact information with articles, contact name and email forms feeding an autoresponder with an email message sequence and published phone information. This is fundamental internet marketing. There is always more including search engine optimization, search engine pay per click, squeeze pages and more. However with a consistent focus on building a relationship with people who are interested in your products and services, you will be able to stay focused on those on line tools most effective for your business.

Then there is off line marketing which is a topic for another article.

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coach
Turnaround/Crisis Management
Temporary CEO, CFO, Controller Services
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

Twitter

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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 a business owner and an expert business consultant focused on building profits and net asset value. He is very experienced with Internet marketing and social media marketing. All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Customer Service: To The Point…Harvey Mackay and The Cab Driver

Thank you Debbie Demboski, Regional Director/Owner of Interiors by Decorating Den for sending me this great story. Contact Debbie for your own franchise or decorating services. Ph.800-866-9499 Decorating Den serves most markets in the US and Canada.
——————————————————————————————————————–

No one can make you serve customers well. That’s because great service is a choice.

Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

Harvey was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up. The first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .

He handed Harvey a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’

Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:

Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’

Harvery said, ‘I’d prefer a soft drink.’

Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.’

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’

Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’ And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts…

Tell me, ‘have you always served customers like this?’

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It . Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”

That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly,and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’

‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.

‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty
cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

How about us?

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you… The ball is in our hands!

A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do
not give up… let us do good to all people.

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans!

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Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coach
Turnaround/Crisis Management
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