INSIGHTS & JOY

A business newsletter with Pizzazz!

"We help leaders become better marketers
using a holistic business approach!"

June 2007

It is apparent to me that business owners who invest time and effort in practical business planning, empowering their management teams, enhance growth in sales and profitability. Owners who plan also seem to enjoy greater peace of mind, knowing that his or her company is on track and moving faster in the right direction. In this issue, I offer insight into three such companies in different industry segments and draw some parallels.

This year, I launched the NTX Private Business League. Development of the League's structure took more than eighteen months of planning. The League's objective is to link business owners who need professional services from time to time with a select group of experienced professionals who provide those services. The business owners gain impartial outside advice on their most pressing issues and they have access to the full array of professional services when, and if needed. The League's peer group segment has started slower than expected, but new seminars in July and August should increase membership. I will update you in future letters as the NTX Private Business League gains traction. Contact me if you would like more information about the League.

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IN THIS ISSUE

A tale of three companies...

Marketing Facets - The Market Focused Guide to Company Analysis

Smiles make the day!

$ Million Marketing Tips

Amazing Facts!

A tale of three companies...

Picture three companies in three different industry segments, but with something in common. Two of the companies are my clients, one is a possible prospect. The 'something' that they have in common is a practical plan that is well-understood within the company and is being actively implemented.

Chatting with the prospective client, he appeared to be confident and in control. I listened carefully and learned that he had a written operational business plan that was communicated throughout his company. His team members were all on the same wavelength and working together toward defined objectives. His results are positive but still somewhat below his most optimistic projections.

Also, the owner has assembled a small group of trusted advisors with whom he meets quarterly. He told me that preparing for his quarterly review was a very valuable exercise, forcing him to develop a long-term perspective about his business and where he wanted to take it. His level of planning and review is rather unusual for an owner of a small to mid-size firm, and I complimented him on his professional business approach. He may never need my help, but I still consider him a valuable contact and resource.

Then, it struck me. Two of my clients are also more confident nowadays. One firm just completed their first formal business plan and the team is now implementing the action plans that they developed. The other firm is moving ahead with a succession plan that has been needed for quite some time. Both clients are more at ease because they now have plans in place and I am helping their teams implement those plans. I can sense their peace of mind. My clients both know where their companies are headed and they have initiated the actions needed to accomplish their individual goals.

Thinking back on other clients with whom I have worked, I can recall the positive change in each owner's outlook once the management team developed and implemented their first operational business plan. We combined the team's intimate knowledge of the company and their industry with my proven planning process. Often, It takes an outside, independent advisor, working closely with the business owner, to develop and implement the kind of planned changes needed to realize the owner's vision.

Marketing Facets - The Market-focused Guide to Company Analysis

Marketing Facets is a practical resource for those involved in determining the current health of a company and gauging its future prospects. I designed my 103-page guidebook to be 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 can also serve as 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!
Worried?

Doing sure beats stewing!

Computers now do some of our thinking. Now we need a machine to do most of our worrying.

Higher education is important. It enables you to determine the most important things to worry about.

When you become wrinkled with worry, it's time to have your faith lifted.

More people worry about the future than prepare for it.

One business owner sighed, "If something terrible happened to me today it would be two weeks before I could get around to worrying about it!

To some pessimists, progress is a matter of discarding old worries so they can take on new ones.

There's one sure way to make a person worry...tell that person not to!

Worry is like a rocking chair...it will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere.

$ Million Marketing Tips

TIP: Getting and keeping customers is what a business is all about. Marketing is not a function or department...it involves your whole firm. Make everyone act and feel like a marketer!

TIP: Deliver value and joy! Customers will love you for it. Be remembered...be a supplier with a sense of humor.

Amazing Facts!

1. Dolphins sleep with one eye open.

2. Ben Franklin invented the rocking chair.

3. The population of Washington D.C. is greater than the population of Wyoming.

4. Americans, on average, eat 100 pounds of beef each year...50% of it as hamburger.

5. You can lose up to 1/3 of your blood and still survive. Please, no experiments!

6. Raindrops fall at about 7 miles per hour.

7. Hmm, more road rage incidents occur on Friday between 4 and 6 p.m. than at any other time. It figures.

8. Nearly everybody's right lung is a little bigger than their left lung.

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,

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

Our ideal client is a business owner or CEO between 30 and 60+ 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?

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

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Richard P. Morgan CMC
Morgan Marketing Solutions, Inc.
Two Galleria Tower, Suite 10008
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 become better marketers using a holistic business approach!"