2 Step Approach to Increase Company Profits

March 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment

1. Eliminate waste

Eliminate reports, habits, products, duplicate input, and processes that waste time and money. These drain labor, money and energy from the business.

Two-thirds of products or services sold incur more costs to produce than they are sold for. These are a drain on profits. These losers can be reduced by either increasing prices, reducing direct costs incurred in producing the product or service, reducing overhead costs allocated to the products or services, or discontinuance of selling of the product or service.

Some of these profit robbing costs may be found through asking employees for feedback on duplication of efforts, unused reports, and other wastes of time or money, or through cost accounting or other analysis systems.

Eliminating waste increases the amount of space, labor, time, energy and money available for other profit-making activities.

2. Reinvest a portion of the savings in profit-generating activities.

Once the waste reduction frees up money, time, labor, space and energy, invest part of the savings in continuous improvement.

Some of these continuous improvements are already in most company’s budgets. Equipment replacement (depreciation), marketing, training and research and development are all current cost or expenditures to generate future profits.

An analysis of return on investment of discretionary expenditures should find further areas where the investment will yield results. Investment should be made in a combination of projects with short payback periods and those with high rates of return.

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Feature Marketing Article, Full Marketing BLOG

Quick Tips To Get Your Business Started On The Right Track

March 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment

1) Outsource, outsource, outsource!

Small businesses don’t have the capital to devote to entire payroll departments, legal departments, etc. Outsource to independent contractors whenever possible. In the long run it is cheaper and is definitely a smart business decision.

2) Network as much as you can.

Join networking groups comprised of individuals who are entrepreneurs or small business owners. Not only might you find some professionals that will help you develop and grow your business, it is also an excellent way to spread the word about your company. Local networking groups usually limit the membership to one person per industry, so you will not be competing with anyone else for referrals.

3) Budget your expenses wisely.

If you can initially work from home, do so. Save the money you would spend renting or leasing an office space and invest in a decent computer system or advertising. Cut your costs wherever you can and take advantage of less well-known but dependable service providers.

4) Find a good publicist/virtual assistant.

It’s important to get the word out about your new business. Hiring a Public Relations firm is pricey and not always worth the money. Go online and search for a Virtual Assistant and publicist. Many will offer you a three month retainer at a lower cost than a fancy PR firm and the results can be extremely advantageous. Check out their references first and go with someone who has a proven track record. After the initial three months many VA’s will offer you an hourly or monthly rate.

5) Develop your negotiating skills.

Knowing how to talk to advertisers and getting the best deals you can will pay off big-time, especially when it comes to advertising. Ask your sales representative to tell you about any special rate packages they offer. Quite often, you will not know unless you ask. Tell vendors you are a new business and ask if you can pay for big projects (like a professional website) with monthly payments. If you are dealing with small business professionals, most of them have been in your shoes and will be happy to extend a monthly payment plan to you.

As a small business owner you must be creative yet frugal. Take every opportunity you can to tell people about your business. Word of mouth and referral business is priceless. Carry your business cards at all times and don’t be shy to talk about what you offer. You never know whom you may meet that might just turn into a wonderful opportunity!

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Feature Marketing Article, Full Marketing BLOG

How Discretionary Spending May Effect a Business Valuation

March 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Written by Byron Lund

Discretionary spending is spending that must be done for the long-term profitability of a company, but may be postponed from the current period (s). This includes equipment replacement, equipment upkeep (often referred to as repairs and maintenance), marketing, research and development and training.

Discretionary spending may be expensed in the current period (as in the standard practices for equipment upkeep, marketing and training), or capitalized and allocated to costs based on their expected life (such as depreciation of equipment replacement or amortization of leasehold improvements). The research and development costs may have been expensed in the current period or capitalized and amortized.

Because the value of most businesses is based on discounting, or a multiple of, future anticipated profits, analysis of the discretionary spending may have a significant impact on the valuation of the company.

On capitalized discretionary costs, the spending has already been “normalized” in the calculation of the business earnings or profits. However, if the amount of current spending has been less than the amount depreciated or amortized, the valuation should include some provision for additional capital spending required soon. This may be done by subtracting the previous capital spending shortages from the purchase price based on multiples of earnings

Discretionary costs that are expensed in the current period have an even greater impact in that, in addition to the expenditure required for previous deficiencies, they affect the current reported earnings and estimate of future earnings.

An illustration of the effect on business valuation is shown by examining the valuation of 4 companies identical in every way but their discretionary spending policy. Each shows the effect on the valuation of the business.

Company A – discretionary spending based on a percent of sales

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Projected.

Sales $100 $110 $120 $130

Direct Costs $50 $55 $60 $65

Indirect Costs

Fixed $25 $25 $25 $25

Discretionary $20 22 $24 $26

Profits $5 $8 $11 $14

Valuation based on 4 x expected profits

= 4 x $14 = $56

This is an example of a company, which realizes that discretionary spending is a function of doing business in the long term and allocates a percent of their sales towards discretionary spending.

We will use this as the model company

Company B – straight line discretionary spending

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Projected.

Sales $100 $110 $120 $130

Direct Costs $50 $55 $60 $65

Indirect Costs

Fixed $25 $25 $25 $25

Discretionary $20 $20 $20 $20

Profits $5 $10 $15 $20

Valuation based on 4 x expected profits

= 4 x $20 = $80

This company was likely overvalued by $30.

It is less likely that the company will reach the $130 sales figure, and the spending on discretionary costs will likely be higher. The valuation should reflect a normalized expected profit of $14, as in Company A, and the value should be reduced by the discretionary expenditure increase required to make up for the shortfall ($6) of the past 2 years.

Compared to Company A, this should be worth less than $50 ($56 - $6).

Company C – spend when there’s money to spend

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Projected.

Sales $100 $110 $120 $130

Direct Costs $50 $55 $60 $65

Indirect Costs

Fixed $25 $25 $25 $25

Discretionary $18 $22 $26 $30

Profits $7 $8 $9 $10

Valuation based on 4 x expected profits

= 4 x $10 = $40

This business is likely undervalued by more than $16.

The $130 projected sales may be surpassed because of discretionary spending spent on research and development, marketing or training. Based on $130 sales and “normalized” discretionary spending, the profits should be projected as $14.

Compared to Company A, this company should be worth more than $56, because of recent discretionary spending.

Company D – declining discretionary spending

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Projected.

Sales $100 $110 $120 $130

Direct Costs $50 $55 $60 $65

Indirect Costs

Fixed $25 $25 $25 $25

Discretionary $20 $18 $16 $26

Profits $5 $12 $19 $26

Valuation based on 4 x expected profits

= 4 x $26 = $104

This company is likely overvalued by over $60.

It has been gutted of future revenue generators and dressed up. This may be dressed up for sale of the company, inflated stock prices (often used in conjunction with stock options) or to dress up the value of the CEO.

Similar to, but worse than, Company B, it should be valued at less than $44 ($56 - $12 discretionary expenditure increase required to make up for the previous two year shortfall in discretionary spending).

The above examples show how discretionary spending can affect reported and projected profits and the effects that they may have in the valuation, and sales price, of a business.

When purchasing a company, investors should analyze its previous discretionary spending. This discretionary cost analysis can have a significant impact on the sales price and variance between likely and projected future earnings.

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Feature Marketing Article, Full Marketing BLOG

How To Increase Your Sales With a Guarantee

March 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment

People are more likely to buy your product or service if you make their decision as easy as possible.
Based on the techniques of hypnosis and Neuro-linguistic Programming, you want them to picture in their mind what it will be like in the future after they have bought it.

It may be difficult for them to do that if there is too much risk involved so your marketing task is to remove the risk in any transaction.

Most potential buyers will be a bit skeptical of buying whatever you sell and a guarantee removes a significant part of their risk.
People want to know that you will "put your money where your mouth is." If you have confidence in your own product or service, this will help your customers feel at ease, leading to more sales. For this reason, the concept of "risk reversal" is crucial. If you can’t stand behind your offer with a guarantee of some sort, people are likely to purchase from someone who does. So make sure you don’t help the competition by missing out this part of your offer.

Some people are too scared to offer a guarantee as they worry that people will take them up on it.
The reality is that some will but, provided you deliver good quality and don’t make unjustified claims, you will win more business by having the guarantee than you will lose in this way.

Here are 7 ways you can get the best results from your guarantee.

Promote the value of your guarantee: Specify the details as though it is another product that adds value to your offer. Spell it out in plain, simple English. Make sure it is "no questions asked" to help put your customers at ease.
Make it personal, if possible: It’s useful to help people see that there is a person behind the guarantee. So consider making it a "personal pledge" or a "personal promise" written to the buyer.
Longer is better: The longer the guarantee period, the more comfortable the buyer will feel - and longer guarantees typically lead to fewer refunds. In the extreme version, people only pay after they have tried it out to their satisfaction.
More is better: A guarantee that offers ‘more than your money back’ is very appealing. Let your customers keep something even if they decide to return the product. This helps them see the purchase from you as totally risk-free - because you’re the one with all the risk.
Be creative: Think about what the customer really wants and consider offering guaranteed results rather than offering money-back. For example, a computer repair shop that will fix your machine even if it takes 5 trips back to the shop will really stand out from the crowd. No "or your money back" needed!
Make it prompt: When a customer asks for a refund, make sure it is prompt and courteous. Consider them a priority as it’s better to refund the money than to have an unsatisfied customer.
Work on reducing refunds: Whatever you do, there are always likely to be some people who will ask for refunds. It is a simple fact that customers change their minds or were just looking for something else. Take the chance to get some feedback and see if you need to make changes.

A good guarantee can provide a high level of comfort to your prospective customer that will make it easier for them to see the potential of working with you. So it’s well worth making it part of your marketing package.

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Feature Marketing Article, Full Marketing BLOG, Sales

You Need To Budget No Matter How Small Your Business Is

March 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment

For many small business owners, the word “budget” is something for the bigger company - maybe they’ll have one when their business “grows up.”

What is a Budget?

The simple explanation is a budget is a plan for how you will manage all financial resources and all expenses for your business. The basic equation that you want to demonstrate in a budget is as follows:
(estimated) Sales minus (estimated) Expenses = Profit (or loss)

How to create a Budget
If this is your first time to work on a budget for your small business, you might work from the perspective of having to list cost of goods or services plus all of your operating expenses to start the process.

How much does it take to operate your phone line? What is the cost of other utilities? How about the cost of a company vehicle, or what is the cost of transportation if you’re using your personal vehicle to also serve as a company vehicle. Do you need any supplies or inventory to operate your business? How about any employee payroll, payroll taxes or independent product or service providers? Remember to include everything you spend money on to operate your business even if you allocate some of the expenses to “petty cash” expenses, such as parking or bridge tolls while traveling to see clients.

I recommend that you create annual budget, as opposed to a monthly budget, so you can identify any expenses that you may have that come up only once or twice a year such as insurance and include them in your list of expenses. This allows you to amortize or spread the cost of this out over several months so that you can plan ahead for the expense.

As you work on your list of expenses keep in mind that these are the expenses that are necessary to operate your business. These should not be your “wish list” unless you want to budget in some expansion or growth. You may want to create a budget with just the necessities and another version of your budget with expansion expenses listed so that you can see the cost of both separately.

With a dollar figure to work with of your total expenses you are able to set the standard for or evaluate your sales figures. If you are new to your business you may need to use the dollar amount of your expenses to help you determine what your sales need to be in order to cover all costs and show a profit. If you have been in business for a while you can evaluate whether or not you are producing a profit by looking at historical sales figures.

As you conduct business during your budget year you should compare your actual income and spending with what you estimated. This will allow you to manage your spending so that you don’t over spend and cut into or eliminate your profits. You will also be able to see if sales have met expectations in order to cover expenses and still remain profitable.

Who should Budget?
Every small business owner should budget, no matter the size of business. I have heard some small business owners say their business is too small to budget, but that is not true. If you don’t have a written plan for what your financial obligations are and how your revenue will cover those obligations and leave some money unspent, then your business will never grow. In fact, you may out-spend your revenue and put yourself out of business.
Why Budget?
Budgeting for your small business gives you control over your finances. By looking ahead to what you know or can reasonably estimate what your expenses will be, you can then make financial decisions that will keep you from over-spending, or give you the freedom to invest in the growth of your business.
When to Budget?
Every small business owner should have a budget to start their business and then review it annually. I recommend that small business owners review their budget several months before the end of their fiscal year. When I say review the budget I’m talking about comparing projected budget with actual. In the comparison you can see if your estimates were realistic. You and your CPA can also plan for last minute tax strategies, or plan to implement strategies in the upcoming year’s budget.
The Goal in Budgeting
Remember, the goal of having a budget is to stay in control of your finances in advance. Setting the standard for your spending and revenue and having a tool to compare with actual will give you the control that you need to stay profitable. At the very least it will give you an indication of whether or not your business is actually profitable and not just busy.

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Feature Marketing Article, Full Marketing BLOG

How To Do Basic SEO For Any Website

March 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Written by Phil Craven

Most people think of search engine optimization to improve their search engine rankings as being such a skilled task that, without putting a great deal of time and effort into it, it is simply beyond their capabilities. Wrong! Yes, improving search engine rankings in competitive topic areas does require a good deal of knowledge and expertise and search engine optimization experts are needed, but most websites aren’t in very competitive areas. Many of them can achieve top rankings by applying just the search engine optimization basics - which can be learned in less than 30 minutes.

This article lays out the basics of search engine optimization. It can be well worthwhile trying them before paying an expert as, oftentimes, the basics are all that’s needed.

NOTE: the SEO copywriting method (a.k.a. search engine optimization copywriting) applies these basics to a site’s existing pages. It doesn’t go into more advanced search engine optimization techniques that require more knowledge and expertise.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization is the process of achieving top rankings in the search engines for a website’s most relevant search terms. The most relevant search terms are the phrases that people are most likely to type into a search engine when looking for what the website has to offer. These are the search terms that it is essential to rank highly for, and these are the search terms that search engine optimization targets.

The first step is to choose the most suitable search terms for your site. Then allocate one or two of them to each suitable page within the site. One search term per page is preferable, but two per page is not so bad. Sometimes it is useful to split a largish page, that covers several closely related topics or several aspects of a topic, into two or more smaller pages so that a different search term can be targeted on each of them. Matching search terms to a page’s content is essential.

NOTE: smaller pages are better than larger ones because it is easier to target a search term when there is less text on the page to dilute the focus.

Search Engine Optimization - the basics

Link structure within the site

An obvious, but sometimes overlooked, aspect of search engine optimization is to make sure that search engine spiders can actually find (crawl) all of the site’s pages. If they can’t find them, they sure as hell won’t get spidered and indexed, and no amount of search engine optimization on them will help.

Some points to note

Spiders can’t see links that are accomplished by JavaScript so, as far as search engines are concerned, they don’t exist. Don’t use them if you want spiders to follow your links.

Google won’t spider any URL that looks like it has a Session ID in it, so URLs with longish numbers in them must be avoided. These are usually dynamic URLs.

Make sure that all pages link to at least one other page. Links to pages that don’t link out are called “dangling links”, and the reason to avoid them can be found here.

It is good to structure the internal links so that targeted search terms are reinforced. E.G. organize the links so that a topic’s sub-topic pages link to the topic page with the right link text (see below), and vice-versa.

Off-page elements

Link text
<a href=”url”>some link text</a>
This is one of the two most important elements for good rankings. The link text can be on pages within the site or on other sites’ pages. Either way, it is important. The target page’s main search term should be included in the link text. When possible, don’t use identical link text for every link that links to a page, but do include the target page’s main search term in the link text.

Google attributes link text to the target page - as actually being on the target page, and it treats it’s pseudo-presence as being an important element of the target page. Links carry even more weight if the text around them is concerned with the target page’s topic and search term(s).

On-page elements

The Title tag
<title>some title words</title>
This is second of the two most important elements for good rankings. Make sure that the page’s search term is contained in this tag, and place it as near to the front as is reasonable, whilst ensuring that it reads well. There’s nothing wrong with placing the search term up front on its own, followed by a period; e.G. “PageRank. Google’s PageRank and how to make the most of it”. The target search term is, of course, “PageRank”. Obviously each page’s Title tag should be different to the Title tags on the site’s other pages.

The Description tag
<meta name=”description” content=”a nice description”>
Some search engines, such as Google, don’t display the Description like they used to do but, even so, it should still be included in each page for those engines that do, and for the odd times when even Google displays it. Write an appealing description for the page and incorporate the page’s search term into it at least once and, preferably, twice. Place one instance of it at the start or as near to the start as is reasonably possible.

The Keywords tag
<meta name=”keywords” content=”some keywords”>
The words in the Keywords tag were never treated as keywords by the search engines; they were treated as text on the page. The tag isn’t as effective as it used to be but there is no reason to leave it out. So put plenty of relevant keywords into the tag and include the search term once at the front, and a second time further along the line. There is no need to separate keywords and keyphrases with commas, as is often done, since the engines ignore commas.

The H tag
<Hn>some heading words</Hn>
“n” is a number from 1 to 6; the biggest heading size being 1. H tags are given more weight than ordinary text and, the bigger the H size, the more weight it receives. So include the target search term in H tags at least once on the page, and two or three times if possible. Also, place the first H tag as near to the top of the page as possible.

Bold text
Bold text is given more weight than ordinary text but not as much as H tags. As much as is reasonable, enclose the search term in bold tags when it appears on the page.

Text
Use the search term as often as you can on the page whilst not detracting from the page’s readability. Make sure that you use the term once or twice very early in the page’s body text and as often as possible throughout. Reword small parts, and even add sentences, to make sure that the search term is well represented in the text.

In all probability, each word in the search term will be found on the page separate from the search term itself. This is good. In fact, if they are not there on their own, add a few of them through the page.

Alt text
<img src=”url” alt=”some alt text which is displayed on mouseover”>
Include the search term in the alt text of all images on the page. Keep in mind that some systems such as Braille readers and speach synthesizers use the alt text, so you might want to make them usable whilst including the search term.

Summary

Select your main search terms.
Allocate each search term to a suitable existing page. Split some pages if necessary.
Organize the internal linkages and link text to suit the target search terms and their pages.
If possible, organize links from other sites to suit the target search terms and their pages.
Organize all the on-page elements to suit each page’s target search term.
Sit back and watch your rankings improve!

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Feature Marketing Article, Full Marketing BLOG

Key Points To Remember Before You Spend Money on Advertising

March 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment

So you have saved up some money and now you are ready to start running an advertisement on radio, television, new papers, or the web.

Before get out that checkbook and start spending your hard earned money, here are a few things that you need to remember:

Your ad should create or magnify the desire and sense of urgency to buy your product or service. This may sound obvious, but most small and mid-size businesses copy big-name branding ads that offer little in the way of a call to action.
Drive home your product and service benefits that your customer can relate to. Features are fine, but benefits sell. Talk about what your customer cares about and what the customer gets as a result of using your product or service. Sell the sizzle, not the steak. Sell me a way to keep my food cold, not a refrigerator.
Present compelling reasons why your product or service is superior and unique and the only rational choice to purchase. When you lead the customer through a logical sequence that helps make sense to the logical left brain, then the emotional right brain can pick up on cues why the customer really wants to buy your product or service. In short, make it super easy to buy.
Provide a way for the customer to purchase your product or service when they first see it. This is another way to say make it easy to buy. The fewer steps between you and your customer the better. If the customer needs to call, don’t make the customer go to the website to get the phone number, provide it right there or in your ad.
Get to the point and try not to be too wordy with your content. Confusion kills sells. Stay concise, specific and on point in your copywriting.
Challenge yourself and every partner you work with to provide reports and tracking for every ad and every campaign you use. A wise person once said, “What you can measure you can manage.” Measuring in advertising is critical. If you run an ad, set up a separate webpage or call in code or response code in the case of direct mail for each outlet so you can measure the efficacy of your program. If you tweak the campaign, then you will know what is working and what isn’t. It can be super easy to track - don’t overcomplicate the process.
Have your site and systems ready for any increased traffic you receive from your campaigns. Again, seems obvious, but you would be surprised how many companies - small and large alike - that do not consider this. If you are conducting a PR campaign that integrates with advertising, be sure that your hosting company has the bandwidth to handle a surge in web traffic. If you will have customers responding via telephone, be sure reps are trained to increase conversion rates. Walk through the backend to ensure you have considered the ins and outs of the sales process.
Know your target market and ideal client profile. If I had a dollar for every company I’ve met that has spent tons of money on advertising and marketing to a target market that was not ideal, I could easily pay for your next advertising campaign in spades. Be sure that you can describe in detail your ideal client profile and then go where your market goes when you plan to advertise.
Stick to your budget. Know your budget and stick to it. Don’t look at advertising rates and ditch your campaign. Take your budget and say, “How can I get what I want with this?” Everyone is creative in their own way. Use your strengths to capitalize on your existing budget, and get what you want.

One of the biggest mistakes I see when it comes to advertising is that business owners throw all their money in one basket. If you don’t have the budget to invest in repetitious ad campaigns (especially if you are new to copywriting), then don’t advertise at all. Advertise in other ways that may be more effective - promotional advertising, PR, special marketing campaigns are all ways to get more bang for your buck. Typically, your target needs to see you seven to nine times before prompted to buy. With integrated marketing, your target may notice you in a radio ad, a newsletter you send out, a direct mailer campaign you are running, a run-in during a local community charity drive, and in several other ways. If you advertise in one way, then your target must see you seven to nine times in that one way to prompt buying. Soon you see that putting all your ads in the print advertising basket seems like a bad idea. If you go that route, be sure to hire a successful copywriter to write your copy!

Best of luck to you!

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Feature Marketing Article, Full Marketing BLOG

Boost Business With The Ezine Queens Ezine System

March 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Several of you have asked me about how I decided to create an ezine and how I went about doing it. Although I have been writing and managing newsletters for more than a decade, when it came to creating an online version, I wanted to be sure I knew the ins and outs of all the tricks of the trade. That’s why I invested in Alexandria Brown, a.k.a. The Ezine Queen’s, award-winning program. It was definitely worth it! In short order, after sending out my ezine, I had my investment paid back many times over.

One thing that I do that is not included in this robust program is an editorial planning calendar. I developed this system when I found myself with multiple newsletters to manage. If you decide to acquire the package, send me your confirmation code when you purchase it and I will be happy to share my editorial planning tool (value: $250) that will save you loads of time when you start thinking about creating content for your new ezine! Hint: It is a way to bypass starting from scratch.

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Full Marketing BLOG, Tina Recommends

Yanik Silver 7 Psychological Secrets eBook

March 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I’ve been studying with the Internet marketing gurus for years now. One of my favorites is Yanik Silver. Yanik is a superstar in the online marketing community. His laid back style is one of the reasons I enjoy reading his eBooks and other products.

Get his 7 Psychological Secrets book here - it’s complimentary. How can Yanik give away his eBook for nada? It’s easy. Tucked within the 22 pages, there are multiple links to his products page. It’s a viral way to send his advertising message out for free. Why am I telling you about this?

Three reasons.

It’s a great example of what you can do for your own company.
It has great information that is easy to understand.
Just knowing Yanik’s story may get you juiced to take your company to a new level.

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Full Marketing BLOG, Giving

March 16th 2008

March 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Hi everyone-

Last weekend, Mark, Chance and I went out to ‘the country’ to see my mom and my stepdad. They live halfway between Weatherford, Texas and Mineral Wells, Texas in a tiny little no-red-light town called Millsap.

Mom and “Grumpy” as she calls him are craftsmen artists. That means that they make art that requires an understanding of a particular skillset. My stepdad is an amazing talent in woodworking. He can eye anything and make it to order. Imagine how funny it was to see 7-year-old Chance in the woodshop with ‘Granddad’ engineering a wood scrap car.

A small rectangle block of wood served as the ‘car body’, four round discs created the wheels, a small wood knob made a great seat, and a fancy dowel served finished the ensemble for a backing to the seat. But what about the steering wheel?

Chance dug down in the scrap box and fished out a plumbing piece complete with red knob, “How about this? This would be a good steering wheel!” A couple of screws later and the new little racecar was ready to roll.

We all just stood there gazing at the racecar thinking that none of us would have thought of the plumbing piece for the steering wheel.

The point is, we often get used to seeing things the way we see them. Sometimes, with a new perspective, we can see something all new again. Try stepping into your customers’ shoes and walking around your office or viewing your website or looking at your new product or service.

What do you see?

Hugs-

Tina

P.S. Belief buster – Look at one area of your business you want to expand and list five ways you could repackage it. Hint: You can create something new, you can mix it with something else in your business to create something new, you can combine it with someone else’s product to make another offering, or fashion it after something in another industry.

Posted by Mark F | Filed Under Notes From Marketing Expert Tina Ferguson

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March 16th 2008

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