INSIGHTS & JOY

A business newsletter with Pizzazz!

"We help leaders tackle major issues and become better marketers
using a holistic business approach!"


Dick Morgan CMC, FIMC

March 2010
    

The world for small and mid-size businesses continues to rapidly change. New demands involving health care plans, new taxes, and altered customer attitudes will have to be factored into your business plans and operations. Where does one start the process of rethinking ways to cope with inevitable changes? Are there creative ways to turn today's sea changes into positive strategies and tactics that enhance tomorrow's competitive position? The answer is yes! I have listed eighteen key questions to ask yourself about your business. I hope you will consider them carefully. Your future may depend on it.

 

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IN THIS ISSUE

Eighteen key questions to ask yourself about your business now

Marketing Facets - The Market Focused Guide to Company Analysis

Smiles make the day!

$ Million Marketing Tips

Facts about wine...

Eighteen key questions to ask yourself about your business now

Roger vanOech Ph.D. offered the following advice:
"If you want to be more creative, believe in the worth of your ideas, and have the persistence to continue building on them. With this attitude, you'll take a few more risks, and break the rules occasionally. You'll look for more than one right answer, hunt for ideas outside your area, tolerate ambiguity, look foolish every now and then, play a little bit, engage in 'what-if' and other soft thinking approaches, and be motivated to go beyond the status quo. And, finally, you will be able to whack yourself into doing all of these things."

The world for small and mid-size businesses continues to rapidly change. Soon, new demands involving health care plans, new taxes, and altered customer attitudes will have to be factored into your business plans and operations. Where does one start the process of rethinking ways to cope with inevitable changes? Are there creative ways to turn today's sea changes into positive strategies and tactics that enhance tomorrow's competitive position? The answer is yes! I have listed eighteen key questions to ask yourself about your business.

  1.   How will our customer’s and prospect’s needs change in the next 2 years?

  2.   As our client’s needs change, what will be the effects on our opportunities?

  3.   Ignoring cost, how could we add more value/leverage to our overall offerings?

  4.   What are some ways we could enhance our overall offerings with little
    or no additional cost?

  5.   How well do we know our clients? Do we use our knowledge?

     
  6.   How can we better leverage our existing client relationships?

  7.   Can we drill deeper to serve added needs for existing clients?

  8.   How can we increase our success in gaining new clients?

  9.   Should we brand some or all of our products and services?

  10.   Should we formalize some of our processes and sell their benefits?

  11.   How can we enhance our existing facilities?

  12.   How can we enhance our after-sale service and attention?

  13.   Should we explore alliances with complementary service/product providers?

  14.   Should we explore geographic expansion?

  15.   Are there any ways to create more distribution channels?

  16.   How can we improve our recruiting, hiring, retention, and employee productivity? Should we re-deploy our staff?

  17.   Have we attempted to revise arrangements with key suppliers?

  18. Have we reviewed each significant fixed expense carefully?
Once you have responded creatively to these eighteen questions, you will be able to determine what additional questions, specific to your business, you will need to answer to respond positively to your changing business environment.
 
Here is a final reminder - Every business has a plan and a strategy. Some are unwritten, implicit, and often misunderstood by many within the company. Other firms create explicit, written operational business plans including specific action steps. 
Successful adaptation to today's and tomorrow's market realities favor those who really understand their customers and competitors, and have a well-developed plan to best meet the customer's changing wants and needs.
   

Marketing Facets - The Market-focused Guide to Company Analysis

Should a salesperson's birth date be an important fact for a company acquirer to know? Could extended product warranties create a competitive advantage? How does the company forecast sales? What are the backgrounds and capabilities of the firm's key managers? Answers to these and a vast array of other in-depth questions receive attention in Marketing Facets.

Marketing Facets is a practical resource for those involved in determining the current health of a company and gauging its future prospects. Marketing Facets is a 103-page guidebook, and a supplement to other evaluation procedures and information normally gathered during a thorough due diligence or business valuation process. The workbook takes a holistic approach, assembling facts and management assumptions in key areas to help the analyst form and support conclusions. 

Marketing Facets is a valuable resource to private investment fund managers, individual investors, venture capital specialists, investment banks, and valuation specialists. Marketing Facets is also a guide for C-level executives who wish to perform their own company analysis as part of normal business planning, or in advance of efforts to refinance, acquire or divest.

Marketing Facets is available in electronic form via the Internet, on CD/ROM, or in print with a ring binder. 
> Electronic in MS Word .doc or Adobe .pdf format via the Internet @ $79.95
> CD/ROM format @ $85.95 including U.S. shipping and handling
> Ring binder version and CD/ROM combo @ $99.95 including U.S. shipping and handling

Consulting is also available. Please contact me for additional information.
Telephone: 972.931.7993  Fax 972.931.0542  rpmorgan@morganmarketingsolutions.com. 

Smiles make the day!   
Liberty...on a more somber note
 
1. If ever a new Statue of Liberty is designed, it will quite likely be holding out a bag instead of a torch.

2. No constitution, no court, no law can save liberty when it dies in the hearts and minds of the people.

3. Those who uproot the tree of liberty will certainly be crushed by its fall!

4. Our cradle of liberty needs more vigilant baby sitters.

5. Every child comes into the world endowed with liberty, opportunity, and a share of our growing national debt!

6. What this country needs is not more liberty, but fewer people who take liberties with liberty.

7. The tree of liberty is one shrub that can't stand very much grafting!

8. Personal liberty ends where public welfare begins!

$ Million Marketing Tips

TIP: Invest time and money in customer research and learn more about your competitors. In many cases, your biggest competitors are customer indifference and your own ignorance of market realities.

TIP: Positioning yourself in the market is not possible; your customers position you in their minds. What you can do is make everything you do a positive influence on their perceptions.  

Facts about wine...
1. Alcohol dehydrates, so drink a glass of water for each glass of wine you consume. Drinking wine with a meal reduces the incidence of hangovers!
 
2. The ideal temperature range for wine storage is 50 to 55 degrees.
 
3. Match spicy food with Riesling or a very fruity red wine.
 
4. Salads with lemon or vinegar dressing calls for a high-acid wine like Sauvignon Blanc or Fume Blanc.
 
5. Sauvignon Blanc gets its name from the French word sauvage, meaning 'wild.' The best SBs from France and New Zealand offer notes of grass, green herbs, and smoke.
 
6. There are about 5,000 different grape varieties! The classics are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Semillon.

 

A client speaks:  "The experience at Garrett Creek Ranch was an unbelievably positive experience. Every person attending has followed up with enthusiasm and a lot of thanks for the entire weekend. Then, the added benefits of our update with the rest of our team today completed the circle of energy that is flowing through this store today. Thank you so much for sharing just a bit of your knowledge with us all but especially Paul and myself. We appreciate all that you have begun so far and I'm sure the future holds great things for everyone involved."  Dianne Tacker, CFO, The Tacker Company, Inc., Grapevine, TX 

Our ideal client is a business owner or CEO between 30 and 65+ years old. Usually with a financial, engineering, or production background. Who is often impatient, and interested in improving company performance. Comes alive when you ask, "How's business? " He, or she, is practical but also enjoys the finer things in life. So, you may see my ideal client driving a Lexus, BMW, or SUV to Neiman Marcus...and to Sam's Club. Who do you know that fits this description?

 

P.S. Ninety-five percent of our engagements originate as a referral from helpful people like you!
       If you know someone who:

> Wants to develop a more productive marketing program, or
> Needs help building and implementing an effective operational business plan, or
> Wants to exit a business or acquire another company,

I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss the situation with you.

© 2010 Morgan Marketing Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Other distribution permitted with proper attribution.

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Richard P. Morgan CMC, FIMC
Morgan Marketing Solutions, Inc.
Two Galleria Tower, Suite 1000 Box 8
13455 Noel Road, Dallas, TX 75240-6620

Telephone 972.931.7993  fax 972.931.0542
email rpmorgan@morganmarketingsolutions.com
www.morganmarketingsolutions.com

Author, Marketing Facets - The Market-focused Guide to Company Analysis

"We help leaders tackle major issues and become better marketers using a holistic business approach!"
CMC (Certified Management Consultant) is a mark awarded by the Institute of Management Consultants USA, and represents evidence of the highest standards of consulting and adherence to the ethical canons of the profession. Less than 1% of all consultants have achieved this level of performance and dedication. For more information go to: www.imcusa.org
 

 

 
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