Ted Leithart

How the State of the Union Speech Limits Your Business Income

2012-01-25T10:49:00.002-05:00

How the State of the Union speech limits your Business Income

I must admit. I watched less than 5 minutes of the State of the Union speech last evening. I didn’t have to watch it. I knew what the speech was going to address.

Problem – Problem – Problem – Problem. Everywhere a problem.

The answer to these endless problems – Government has the answer.

But there’s a massive flaw in such belief that we depend on others to Increase Your Business Income. Can I give you a hint? Our Congressional and government representatives are as clueless as the public in general. Why would I say this?

May I give you an analogy? Thank you.

Let’s say you want to get in shape – in fact, that was your top New Year’s Resolution less than a month ago. So, you subscribe to a couple of magazines that are about fitness after picking up a sample at the local Barnes and Noble. In addition, you purchase a couple of books that tell you what to eat and what not to eat.

You begin to visit the health food and nutrition and exercise blogs and websites on a daily basis. You subscribe to e-newletters from BeefCake.com and SexyAndFit.com (I just made these up – I don’t know if they exist).

You find a couple of meet-ups focused on healthy living. And lastly, you become a distributor for that vitamin or nutritional drink company.

Six months later, you wonder why you aren’t in better shape than you had planned and you continue to carry most of the weight you were carrying at the beginning of the year.

Why? You forgot ONE thing on the task and to-do list. Implementation!!! In other words, eating properly and exercising 4-5 times per week.

How Does this relate to the State of the Union speech and the limiting of your business income? Simple.

You have the answers. You are aware of what needs to be done in your business. But, implementation is something you simply don’t seem to get around to. You believe you always need more – more information, more insight, more thoughts, more government oversight and regulation, more hand-holding.

As a friend of mine says, Ideas without Implementation are simply Mental Self-stimulation. He says it in a more crass manner, but you get the idea (I hope).

Change does not require a State of the Union speech, another regulation or law. Change is a result of implementing what you know you must do. Time to implement. Time for you to self-regulate your Business income.

How Military Strategy Can Skyrocket Your Business Profits

2012-01-23T16:21:00.000-05:00

How Military Strategy Can Skyrocket Your Business Profits

I was reminded of this this morning. I was looking through a business-related social media site when I came across a request from a business owner. A business owner was seeking wholesalers or retailers to team with him in selling additional product lines to retail outlets in his industry.

As you may recall, I am not a retailer or wholesaler. I simply find under-used or unused opportunities that exist within a business and implement ways to turn these opportunities into additional streams of income.

Yet this business owner had a number of retailers in his industry who were very desirous of improving their cash flow and net income. I offered my services.

Within 10 minutes of offering my services, this business owner had returned my email. We had about a 10 minute discussion. We agreed that I would provide my introductory product (entitled the 7 Fastest Ways to Increase Your Business in 7 days) to him for his review. Should he find the information enlightening, he would recommend the system to his multi-thousand retailer contact base.

It was a nice morning.

SO MUCH for YOUR DAY… How does this story fit into YOUR business?

Simple – it’s a military mentality.

You see, think about what the military does. When it is called into action, it first sends out the Navy. The Navy positions itself near the opposing nation and begins to fire rounds. In addition, the Navy has Navy aircraft attack with different types of weaponry.

The Air Force may get involved and use its arsenal for additional missions. Finally, the Marines put men (and women) on the ground. Last, the Army occupies the country.

It’s called Force Multiplier.

Why does the military do this? Because the military does not know exactly what method is going to work to win the battle or the war.

If I would have meandered along using one or two strategies (like most businesses do), I would have probably not been perusing the business-related social media site. As a result, this prospect would have never been contacted.

How many force multiplier strategies are you using in your business?

Is the Economy Really So Bad?

2012-01-17T08:39:00.000-05:00

Is the Economy Really So Bad

I recently did a Google search to see how people made money throughout the 1930s.

Several people bought up undervalued stocks and held on as the stock value increased due to the public’s need for the company’s product or service.

Another one bought companies and leveraged their assets to grow the business (not necessarily financial assets, but the Goodwill, the value of their customer base, etc.) This person went on to become one of the people who made the most wealth in during these years.

Some companies increased their advertising dollars – or advertised more effectively. This strategy worked for Chevrolet as well as Kellogg’s during the 1930s.

In short, savvy investors and business people invested in similar companies and projects to what they currently do.

That brings me to the title of this writing – Is the Economy Really So Bad?

From a financial standpoint, considering the amount of debt we’ve created out of thin air over the past several years in comparison to the goods and services they represent, the supply and demand curve will demand to be satisfied with higher prices, a very slow economy and inflation.

From a building of character, I have a much more positive attitude.

Yes, times were tough – and that is stating it mildly – in the Great Depression for many people.

At the same time, the character and personal strength that was built by the Great Depression resulted in two countries primarily composed of farmers saving the world from the likes of Hitler, Mussolini and Tito.

If the Roaring 20s had continued throughout the 1930s, would we have had the character and personal fortitude to fight those evil forces? I would hope so! Still, knowing that difficulties and hardship build character, it is an insightful question.

My conclusion: Yes, we have built a difficult project we must work through. It’s called the National debt (and the lack of individual responsibility). Yet, this economy is going to build character, integrity and fortitude that will make the rest of the world sit up and admire American ingenuity once again.

What Is Truth?

2012-01-13T13:15:00.002-05:00

What is Truth?

This is probably going to be the most controversial blog posting of the year.

I recently got into a debate with a friend over politics. Yes, I know – never discuss religion or politics. I do – but I discuss them not from an arguing point of view. I like to discuss such things from a “gaining an insight” point of view.

It seems in so many subjects today we have so many view-points, that we can’t determine whether something is good or bad. It just is.

Since my business is marketing – this seems especially true in this industry. After all, what other industry can charge their customer $7 million per minute (2012 cost of Super Bowl’s on a per-minute basis) and the customer not expect or demand SOME type of return on their investment (sorry, since you are insisting that I not discuss politics, comparing this cost per minute is an unfair comparison – although government goes into debt at a slower rate than the business expecting an immediate ROI on their Super Bowl ads).

It reminds me of a question spoke long ago, “What Is Truth?”

After all, if it’s impossible for you to monitor and analyze the return on investment on your Super Bowl advertising, why try on any of your advertising and marketing? My personal opinion is that is why bran building gets so much press these days. You can’t measure a ROI on your advertising, but ANY advertising is good advertising, from a name recognition point of view…

Taking to its conclusion, my brain has begun to recall the dot-com era of the late 1990s. As I recall, one of the prevailing mindsets was that you could not determine the value of a business any longer simply by looking at its earnings times a multiplier. We had reached a new era where such numbers no longer matter.

In other words, “Who cares what the truth is?”

Oh, how we wish those times had lasted. Our stock portfolios would be worth so much more today.

Unfortunately, reality set in. Truth, it seemed, had won out.

So, my question to you is, “Are you requiring the ROI on your marketing and advertising dollars to tell you the truth?”

How I Made over 300% ROI (without lifting an arm)

2012-01-09T11:39:00.002-05:00

The year was 1986. I was interacting with a family friend about some stock investments that were out-of-the-norm in the 1980s (gold stock).

Our family friend recommended that I purchase a gold stock called Vaal Reefs, as I recall the name. I purchased about $5k in stock and continued on my daily activities at my position at Rockwell International.

Twelve or thirteen months later, the same friend called and noted that some political unrest in the country where Vaal Reefs was based suggested that I should sell my gold stock. I approved the sale. The gross sale amount - $16,000.

In other words, over a 12 month period, doing nothing, I made a 300% ROI.

Why do I tell you this?

To demonstrate such outlandish claims are not always too good to be true. I didn’t do anything illegal. I didn’t have any insider trading information. I was not connected with anyone in political power in the United States or the country where Vaal Reefs operated. I simply wrote a check and collected a check a year later.

What does this have to do with you?

The old saying goes, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” And I would agree that when investments and other aspects of your life seem too good to be true, they may be. But, at least, if it peaks your interest, do your due diligence.

Why do I say this?

I am the protégé of a Business Growth strategist who has taken one small business from $20,000 in sales to $10,000,000 in sales in 18 months. He also took another business concern from $500,000 in sales to $300,000,000 in sales in 3 years.

If I am pressing the numbers on my calculator correctly, that equates to MORE than 300% ROI.

How did he do it? By leveraging assets within the business that the owners were not aware of.

My mentor taught me the exact manner he does this. And, if you wish, you can work with him (he’s $5,000 an hour; $50,000 a day). Or you can receive the same at a fraction of that investment.

I find overlooked opportunities within your business and turn these into windfall profits and additional streams of income.

Do your due diligence at www.TedLeithart.com

Help is on the Way

2012-01-06T13:38:00.002-05:00

Help Is On the Way

I grew up in the golden age of television. As I recall the Westerns and other shows I was allowed to watch growing up, the typical plot was someone in the show gets in trouble. It didn’t matter what the situation was, the problem got more and more intense and difficult.

However, we could always depend on Lassie or the Lone Ranger or Batman to save the day.

In other words, the theme running continually on these shows were that you have more assets at your disposal than you realize. Another continuing theme was “Hope springs eternal.”

And, of course, good always wins out in the end.

This morning I was discussing some needs a potential client had in his business. By the end of the conversation, I recognized the theme of the conversation was the same as the television shows I grew up with. Interestingly enough, my potential client is assisting me in other areas.

This theme needs to be emphasized, especially in lieu of the world economy and world politics.

All you have to say is “I need help!”

Several years ago, a customer commented to me “I need help!” By the end of our relationship, this customer was in a much better position than he was when he initially asked for help. And this help was given to him without expecting to be compensated.

I love making money, but money is simply a measure of how much value you gave to the other person.

It all has to do with mindset. Rest assured – and be positive. Because Help is on the way.

Beat Your Largest Competitors - Everyday!

2012-01-05T13:32:00.002-05:00

In yesterday’s blot posting, I commented on how extraordinary customer service led to building a loyal customer base. I gave several examples of this as well.

This morning I received an email to survey a couple of businesses and to prepare a proposal for the business. I had a little time and was in the area of one of these referrals, and so I stopped in to observe the business (not to introduce myself as the consultant that was here to help the business owner).

I also surveyed 4 of the business’ direct competitors located within one mile of his location.

What did I come away with?

Same, same, same, same…

Same products – same level of service – similar pricing.

Nothing to set one business apart from another. No wonder the business is not thriving!

That’s what my employees offered by building friendships and having conversations with our customer base. A difference!

You see, your competitors – especially the national chains in your industry – can carry the same products that you do. They can have the same pricing as you, possibly a bit less.

The one thing that can’t copy is YOU.

You are the business. You are the difference. You are the reason your customers buy your services or products.

And that is something the national chains don’t do well.

For starters, it’s not kosher or corporate to act in a friendly manner. It’s too unprofessional.

You can come across as a stoic or as a personality. Sam Walton was a personality but the C-level officers at his company are a stoic commodity (or come off as such). Dave Thomas (of Wendy’s Hamburgers) was a personality. His successors have yet to realize this and Wendy’s has suffered due to the stoic, corporate approach.

The people who come across as having a personality win! The biggest example of this is Jesus Christ versus the Pharisees of the day.

What can you do to let your personality shine?

Increase Your Sales by 25-100%. Visit my website, www.TedLeithart.com

Is An Intimate Connectino with your Customers Going Too Far???

2012-01-04T14:50:00.000-05:00

Is An Intimate Connection with your Customers Going too Far?

There was a book written a few years ago entitled something like Customer Service Worthless – Customer Loyalty Priceless. The book goes on to tell of a number of ways a business can do fairly simple things to gain customer loyalty.

There’s a story about a handicapped teenager who took a customer service belief to a new level at his employers. As I recall the story, the boy wondered what he could do to give the customers at the grocery store where he worked an extraordinary experience. After all, he was only a bag boy.

He got the idea of writing a Quote of the Day on a piece of paper, copying the paper and putting the paper into each customer’s bag when he had finished bagging up the groceries. After a while, the manager of the store realized what the bagboy was doing and allowed him to continue it – using the company’s copying services.

Several months later, this bagboy’s line of customers stretched from the check out register to the back of the store. While other check-out lines and services were offered, the customers remained in that one check-out line, just to get their Quote of the Day from the bagboy.

Do you think this teen built a loyal customer base – and if he ever left that grocer to seek employment – Do you think his job search for more than 24 hours?

I recall two of my employees went out of their way to build a loyal customer base. Both had big hearts, words of encouragement and didn’t know the meaning of the word stranger. I had customers come in and ask for one of these employees on a consistent basis, refusing to purchase anything unless it could be purchased from that CSR.

It was interesting to watch how these two CSRs did exactly what convenience stores are not known for – keeping customers inside the store. How did they do that? By having a conversation with the customer.

As many of us know, we want to keep a customer inside the store as long as possible. If you are selling items through a website, you want your customer to loiter on YOUR website. If you are selling fresh produce or baked goods, you want that customer to loiter in your retail location. Because…

… the longer they stay in your store, the more likely they are to buy more things. Which is exactly what happened. Rather than a customer purchasing a coffee and donut to enjoy when they got to work, they bought one of each, got to talking with the CSR for the next 15-20 minutes, and then purchased another coffee and donut before leaving.

May I mention this in another industry? Upscale car dealerships now have hair salons, workout centers and a number of other amenities their customers can enjoy while waiting for their car. Still, most car dealerships and auto repair centers have you watching a mind-numbing television show or reading last year’s Field and Stream. Without offering additional services or products – or ways that you can shop for additional products and services.

Now add someone who actually TALKS to the customer base while they are waiting without a continuing sales pitch in their mind and wow – the customer actually begins to enjoy hanging out with their friends at the car dealership.

Doesn’t this boil down to one thing – a care of your customers. Actually, an intimate relationship with your customers…

How a Gym in Studio City, CA Can Increase Your Sales by 27% in 2012

2011-11-23T08:33:00.002-05:00

How A Gym in Studio City, CA Can Increase Your Sales by 27% in 2012

I used to be a gym rat. In fact, my interest in fitness training and health is what led me to the hobby I had throughout the 1980s – studying the Price-Pottenger Nutritional Newsletter, the Townsend Letter for Doctors, and other preventative medical journals. I entertained attending Bastyr University in 1992 and declined due to family obligations in Cincinnati.

During my gym rat days, Vince was my chief mentor. He was also the mentor for such fitness stars as Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Body by Jake” Steinfeld and Bob Greene.

Which leads me to this morning -

One of my goals by the end of 2012 is to be in the same shape as I was in 1992. As a result, I’ve pulled out my old Vince letters and am following his advice on getting into shape.

One of the principles of Vince’s training is concentration. To focus on one thing at a time. Allowing your focus to be lost leads to procrastination and lack of clarity which ultimately leads to lack of results. To keep your focus (as well as giving you an aerobic workout while lifting weights), Vince advices you keep the rest between sets to a minimum (Vince recommends 10-15 seconds).

This keeps you moving. What I find interesting is that so many others plod through their workouts and then wonder at the limited results they achieve. There are times when some of the people in the gym are doing bench presses when I enter the gym – and still doing bench presses when I leave 35 minutes later (after having accomplished 24-27 sets of exercises).

So, what does Vince have to do with YOUR business – and making more sales?

Speed – Focus and Clarity.

You need to move faster than your competition. A great example of this is Microsoft. They didn’t wait until Windows 7 was perfected. They introduced a Beta version called Vista and let the world test it at the world’s expense.

Focus – Allowing too many things and projects into your business life makes you lose focus – and lack of clarity comes with this. The most amazing example of this is Ford Motor Company, which realized in the late 1980s that they were automobile manufacturers. For you, too many mentors, too many newsletters and too much electronic wizardry may take you away from the focus and clarity you need in your business.

There are Seven Secret Strategies (not 10 or 16 or 27) you need in your business. Only Seven. Seven Secret Strategies make the difference between plodding along in 2012 and massively increasing your sales. I want to share these with you – at no CHARGE!

When: Monday, November 28, 2011 at 11 am EST (that’s Eastern Time)

Where: FREE Teleseminar by calling 209-647-1000. Your PIN is 281310# (there are a limited number of lines, so call a little early)

Cost: Free! This is NOT a pitch fest!!! I’ll leave that to a nationally known guru to use such tactics to sell his stuff.

So, why free? To simply demonstrate the opportunities many are ignoring in their business.

I don’t even want you to opt-in. If the content is worthy of your business and your time, you’ll let me know – and you’ll be desirous of additional insights.

This FREE teleseminar is compliments of:

Ted Leithart

The Leithart Group, LLC

Loveland, OH 45140 USA

www.TedLeithart.com

FAX: 513-677-1910

P.S. Happy Holidays! Consider this my early holiday present to you!

P.P.S. Limited phone lines – Call 209-647-1000 and use the PIN 281310#

P.P.P.S. I’m looking forward to serving YOU on Monday. Until then, enjoy the holiday break

The Way Out of This Dismal Economy

2011-08-08T20:16:00.002-04:00

This past week we had the THRILL of riding the DJIA down a pretty steep incline, dropping 513 in 8 hours. It would have been a rush if it was a roller coaster moving that quickly. And this was outdone today with another drop by over 600 points in the Dow-Jones average.

“These are times that try men’s souls,” Thomas Paine once wrote.

Whether we remain in the land of the free and the home of the brave or become an expat in an attempt to avoid these volatile times, there is stability. There is Hope. There is a bright future for us.

Yes, hope springs eternal.

What matters is what is inside you, not what happens on Wall Street. You are much more than cars, large houses and clothes. “You have been fearfully and wonderfully made,” as the good book says.

You can cry out like Chicken Little about the “Sky is falling.” It seems many of our leaders in Washington have taken this position. They seem to run after one symptom, then another. If we all painted our houses green, a re-enactment of the citizens of Oz running to the wizard because “He’ll know what to do” would be in order.

You see how well our political leaders are able to control the situation.

So, rather than depending on the manure on the banks of the Potomac, why not take care of things where you are?

My grandparents owned a small convenience – grocery store for several decades. In fact, the building and the business remain, although it is different owners now. During the Great Depression, my grandparents took care of the neighborhood in many ways. For instance, they had accounts and when their neighbors did not have the money to pay for their food that week, it was charged to their account.

For years afterwards, and up through the 1950s, my grandparents customers would come in to make their weekly payment on their account.

It’s no different today. In fact, this is one of the ways you can beat Wal-Mart every day of the week. Since your convenience store is a part of the community, you take care of the community. Wal-Mart can take care of Bentonville – you take care of YOU-ville.

Will you have a bank book as large as the big box stores doing this? Probably not. But, then, your business is not about you – it’s about your customers. In fact, if you take care of your customers in this fashion, you’ll never have another customer – you’ll only have clients!

We’ve lived through a tough ten years or so. The next ten years may make the last ten seem like a calm before the store. During these years we have realized that nothing outside of ourselves and our own efforts can be depended upon. Washington and the politicians cannot. Businesses the size of General Motors and Chrysler combined cannot. Bank or America and Lehman Brothers cannot. US Army Core of Engineers cannot.

Only we can.

The only question that remains is whether you will sit, watch, shake your head and reflect that “It isn’t what it used to be” or will you take the economy – the only economy that affects you and the only economy you have any control over – and make a difference.

By doing so, you’ll become more successful than you ever dreamed possible, because your thoughts, words and actions will reflect one theme to your clients – that of “You Are Loved.”

Never forget the three ingredients that football coach Lou Holtz says about all successful teams. They answer YES to the following three questions:

- Can I trust You?

- Do You Care About Me?

- Are You Committed to Excellence?

What to Consider When Opening a New C-Store, Part 2

2011-07-27T15:41:00.002-04:00

What to Consider when Opening a New C-Store (2)

This is a continuation from my last writing.

After evaluating whether there is a market for your new C-Store location and determining how your C-Store is different, what else would you consider?

I would suggest FUN. Yes, FUN. Make your C-Store a fun place to do business.

The best analogy I can give you that Americans are familiar with is Goober’s Gas station in Mayberry. The gas station was a place to hang out on the Andy Griffith Show. The only other destination place in the town was Floyd’s Barber Shop.

Why were these places to hang out? I would suggest it was due to the relationship between the business owner and his customers (yes, this is a sexist statement – and NOT meant to be. It saves me time from writing all the pronouns that need to be there in a politically correct society).

How does one make their C-Store fun? It’s about the relationships.

I hired a person one time at my C-Store. He was rather off-the-wall, but in a very nice, friendly way. As a result, he built a following over the time he worked at my store because of his friendship with the customers. Always a good word, but more importantly, always a FUN person.

In fact, I would suggest that you strongly think about hiring your CSRs based on two things – are they a FUN person (a person you’d go with to enjoy an evening at the local baseball game or high school football game)? Are they friendly? Are they out-going? Do they continue to have a spark and joy about life, no matter what their chronological age is? Because your customers want to do business where it is fun!

During this person’s time under my employee, I had customers who came in and asked for him – daily!

I had an assistant manager who worked for me for a few years. He was ALWAYS full of enthusiasm and love for his customers. Always a smile. Always courteous. Always going above and beyond. In fact, after he left my employ, I had customers asking where he disappeared to for months!

Yes, there is work to be done. But having an employee base that “whistles while they work” becomes infectious to your customers.

What to Consider When Opening a New C-Store

2011-07-25T06:57:00.000-04:00

I was recently asked what I would consider if I was opening a new c-store. Here are my comments:

Does the population of the area need another c-store? Many entrepreneurs begin their business with the attitude “If it’s built, they will come!” This is not true. The world’s garages and U-Store-Its are full of products that were built with this attitude. Prior to spending the money on the product (a new c-store), test market to ensure the market place wants your c-store.

This is more difficult than it sounds. That’s because many people will tell you it is a great idea, a great service, a great product. “WONDERFUL! Since you are so sold on my new entrepreneurial endeavor, why not buy now. I’ll give you a discount and I’ll give you a receipt of when my service/product is due to you.”

See how many people pull out their credit card or wallet to buy… That’s a wonderfully inexpensive market survey!

Secondly, how are you going to differentiate yourself in the market. Obviously, the market is getting their food and drinks, their beer and their Slurpees® from some place. So, why do they go there but the more important question is “Why should I (the customer) buy from you at this time versus ALL the other opportunities I have to spend my money (whether it’s in a convenience store or another type of business)?”

Figure this one out and you’ll beat most of your competitors that differentiate themselves with mediocre Unique Selling Proposition. The best USP I have seen for running or sport shoes– “Shoes Guaranteed to Make you Jump Higher and Run Faster.”

You need to tell your customers WHY you are different - continually!

In the city I live in, there was a camera shop that competed against the big box stores for decades. And they competed well, even though they were more expensive than the big box electronic stores. Their difference was that they knew how the equipment worked and would coach their customers on how to use the equipment at no additional charge.

They closed after 80 years in business… WHY? Because they didn’t keep telling their customers WHY they were different and it became “out of sight, out of mind.” ADDITIONALLY, they did not have any customer contact information, so how could they effectively (and efficiently) remind their clients why they were different.

I continue on the next mailing. Should you desire additional information, it can be found at www.cstoregrowthprofessor.com. Additionally, I am just completing a book entitled Get Your Life Back! How to Turn Your C-Store into a Cash Machine. Should you be interested in obtaining your copy, email us at sales@cstoregrowthprofessor.com

More Important than Location, Location and Location

2011-07-06T09:22:00.000-04:00

I recently read an article which points out a number of flaws that many in the c-store industry seem to be unaware of. When I was with BigOil (a ficitious name to protect ME), I found it absolute crazy that my employer would spend thousands per store on the coffee area wallpaper (we can’t have seams) while being unable to answer one simple question.

The simple question was asked to my district manager. “J****, can you tell me the name of that customer getting a coffee? Or that person having his lottery tickets ran?”

J****s reply was that I knew my customers better than all of his other managers.

My comment to him was “why are we spending $1500 for wallpaper, $35,000 on a coffee bar and $250,000 this month on advertising the "Oiler Family" in Cincinnati this month, and we don’t even know the people’s first names who give us millions in cash flow every year.”

My district manager gave me a wry glance but could not give me an answer.

Recently I read an article about the tragedy of the anonymous customer which proved my point 6 years after I pointed it out to BigOil. BigOil, it seems, has failed to understand this.

That’s the reason for the C-Store Growth Professor (www.cstoregrowthprofessor.com). We show C-Store owners how to build a relationship, cultivate it, and as a result of building an army of Dear, Valued, Blessed Friends (otherwise known as customers), turn a C-Store into a Cash Machine.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T14:30:00.002-04:00

Happy 4^th of July

Fireworks. Picnics. Time together with family and friends. Celebrations. Rock concerts in the park.

All wonderful ways to celebrate the 4^th of July.

But the 4^th of July is all about Independence. Liberty. Freedom. The fresh air of being able to do as you wish – without interference from others or from an oppressive government.

www.Dictionary.com defines independence as “freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others.”

Just reading the words makes me feel liberated.

But, what about tomorrow?

Will you feel liberated as you travel back to your place of business? Will you continue to feel liberated as you begin the work day and completing the reports that are due by the end of the week?

Will you continue to feel liberated when your employee that is supposed to show up at 6 a.m. calls at 5:45 to say they can’t make it to work today as they have had too much weekend?

If you don’t – you do not have your business structured properly. Because your business is an object, not a being. Your business is just like a computer or an automobile or a motorcycle.

In other words, just like these other machines work for you – your business needs to as well!

Is it? Probably not.

What’s wonderful about your business not working for you is that you don’t need to hire a bunch of experts to run the business for you – or do you?

This makes me think of what is a business. A business is a machine which generates money for its owners.

Is your machine working well – or does it need a tune up? That’s what the Leithart Group, LLC and the C-Store Growth Professor are all about – tuning up your business so that it runs like a cash machine.

Want to try it out? We offer a free 41 minute consultation for your business. Simply email Ted@TedLeithart.com or Ted@CStoreGrowthProfessor.com (if you are a C-Store) for a free phone consultation.

We guarantee the conversation will be most liberating!

I Have More Fun Here than Anywhere Else

2011-06-28T11:13:00.000-04:00

I was reviewing some testimonials about the way some business associates run their business. One stands out in particular. Especially when you know how this business evolved.

The Business Owner was successful in his industry. He was pulling a good income, and was considered successful and admirable by the community. Yet, the business owner was very discontented. In fact, he was so discontented in his business that he considered suicide.

Rather than injure himself, the business owner (let’s call him Pat just to make this simple) wondered about the following –

· If you can structure a business around generating the most cash flow

· If you can structure a business around building the most equity in a short period of time

· Why can’t you structure a business around being happy?

So that’s exactly how Pat revamped his business.

Rather than go into all the details on how Pat changed the business, let’s look at the results:

· His work hours went down to approximately 1/3 of the hours he had been working

· His personal income went up by 700%

· His customers revered him rather than tolerated him

But the most profound effect was that on Pat and his staff. They were happy. In fact, one of his staff members noted they preferred work and the work environment to any other environment she had ever experienced. Another noted she wanted to go back to school, study more and come back to this specific business to take over a higher position. Why? Because she could think of no more satisfying career move than to stay at the same company.

The question becomes – How can you establish a business focused on happiness?

· One of the ways to do this is to use the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would have them treat you.

· Another key is to always use respectful language – Thank You, Please, You are Welcome. These seem to be increasingly difficult phrases to find, especially in many children and young adults.

· Pat’s business went so far as to change the terminology of the business. For example, the term “Annual Review” or “Employee Assessment” became “Coaching.”

Why should you focus your energies on Happiness. Disney World is now the place that makes the most money off an average customer of anyplace in the entertainment/destination world. Disney World makes more money per guest than Las Vegas (even with gambling, free alcohol and legalized prostitution).

I’d like to hear some feedback – How Do You Make your C-Store a Happiness Filled Destination?

Can You Build a Loyal Customer Base in the C-Store World?

2011-06-20T12:59:00.000-04:00

I enjoy winning. In business, you have to be competitive. Choosing your battles and the fights you can leverage to where winning is a no-brainer makes total sense to me.

No, I don’t take candy from babies. But allowing myself to get into a business position where I continually fight for my existence makes no sense to me.

Similarly, since you may not be a COCO c-store, you have to direct your resources to where they will be used the best. You can’t afford a full-scale direct battle against a competitor such as BP or Dutch Shell. You need to find battles where you know you can win.

How can you win against such giants?

In areas such as delivery, personal service, guarantees as well the quality of your products. Never on price. You can never win that war (look at how Wal-Mart is losing that fight against the Dollar-Xs right now). Since someone will always be prepared to price below you, you will eventually be out of business (think Sears in 1960 versus now, K-Mart in 1980 versus now, Wal-Mart in 2011 versus 2021).

How do you handle your marketing battles? It should not be like going fishing. It should be like shooting fish in a barrel. Even better, have the water drained out of the barrel, the fish already skinned or de-scaled, laying on ice and a chef with a grill standing next to the barrel ready to prepare the fish I select.

That’s my kind of fishing!

So how do you make your business like my kind of fishing? You need to figure out what you do better than everyone else. After you realize that, you need to tell the customers you are targeting on a consistent basis why you are different.

A successful marketer needs to figure out who their best customers are and what they have in common. Then find the right type of media that will reach out to those people in an effective, efficient way.

This may mean you use direct mail, community newspapers, e-mails, coupons or many other types of media.

If you can focus your fire power on YOUR strengths, your competitors’ weaknesses and what your customers truly value, you are well on your way to “building a loyal customer base in the C-Store World.”

Are You Using You Time Effectively?

2011-05-27T12:08:00.000-04:00

Are you Using Your Time Effectively?

I can almost assuredly argue that you are NOT using your time effectively. I know I am not. However, I am becoming hugely more effective with my time.

A marketing expert who I am familiar with regularly discusses time bandits. These are individuals and things that steal your time. For most people, these time bandits include your SmartPhone, Facebook, browsing the Internet, movies and television.

A friend of mine who is a Business consultant in a town about 3 hours away from me recently stated that he spends 95% of his work hours with people who give him money. This friend is an intense, hard-charging go getter and he owns his own business. So, let’s say he works 60 hours per week on his business.

Calculating 95% of his time, he spends 57 hours with paying clients.

This leaves a scant three hours per week, or twelve hours PER MONTH, to do what many entrepreneurs and salespeople are doing on a daily basis:

Attending networking events
Driving to and from appointments
Soliciting new business
Prospecting
Sales presentations
Administrative work
Accounting and book-keeping work
Putting together marketing materials and campaigns

Do you still believe you are being effective with your time? Is that 5 minute interruption that took 30 minutes of time before you could get rid of the person who has no intention of doing business with you worth 30 seconds?

Are you going to continue to allow the time bandits/ employees who waste your time rather than leverage your time to continue?

Mostly, are you leveraging your time to get a better return on your life’s investment in your work? If not, it’s time to see how the Leithart Group, LLC and the C-Store Growth Professor show you how you can change your business into a cash machine. Free CD on the 8 Keys to Your Business Thriving in Any Economy to the first 7 requests at Ted@TedLeithart.com

Scripting

2011-05-23T09:25:00.000-04:00

Virtually every fast food restaurant in the United States and you hear, “You want the extra size that?” In fact, you hear it so much that you are probably tired of the upsell offer.

There’s nothing wrong with an upsell. In fact, statistics show that somewhere between 46-70% of offered upsells are accepted and purchased. That’s a lot of extra cash flow for no additional marketing or overhead cost.

But you would think that there would be thought that goes into this.

When I managed stores for a global 5 company, we required the CSRs to upsell everyone. But here was the extent of the upsell training – a 3” by 5” card that had suggestions of what to offer as an upsell when a customer was purchasing a specific type of item.

So every cigarette sale became, “Would you like a lighter with that?”

This was replaced by the Product of the Month push. Someone at the corporate offices decided that it would be easier to offer the “Product of the Month” as the upsell to everyone. The next month, when someone came in to the store to purchase a 6 pack of beer and a pack of cigarettes, the upsell was “Would you like a 2 liter Pepsi with that?”.

How do you think the upsells did? Pretty poorly, it would seem.

Here’s my point – wouldn’t it be a lot more conducive to increasing your sales is you gave your Customer Service Reps a little clue by giving them a little bit of sales training.

The argument I heard a number of times at my employer was that should we teach our employees to sell, they would leave the company and find an employer that would be willing to pay them more based on their sales skills. It never occurred that the opposite – not training your employees to sell and keeping them – was less beneficial to the corporation.

There are many sales trainers out there. Many sales techniques. Many books, CDs, DVDs and one can spend up to $25,000 for a lifetime sales training class in Cincinnati. I am not suggesting you do this.

What’s my suggestion? Personally, I like the sales trainers that incorporate some persuasion language into their training. Persuasion language can take a close ratio of 20-25% to 40-60% - in fairly short manner.

Another point about sales training – I like those who insist on scripting. Without scripting, you are winging the presentation. No presentation goes 100% the way any salesperson desires. But how can a sale continue to move in the direction intended if the sales person doesn’t even have an outline or clue of how to steer the sale back to their desired outcome?

Lastly, is it really that necessary to provide sales training to CSRs? After all, this is an impromptu purchase, not a sale of a computer or an automobile. It may not be, but having memorized scripts so that your CSRs don’t come off as a mindless “You wanna biggie size that order?” may be in order.

Want to receive some very cost effective insights on writing scripts and “sales presentations” for your CSRs to learn? I would highly recommend the following:

www.ericlofholm.com

Eric was trained by a Dr. Donald Moine. Dr. Donald Moine has a book from several years ago (which Eric is currently updating) entitled Unlimited Selling Power (available from www.Amazon.com).

BTW, tell Eric Ted sent you to him.

Social Media Is Not the Entire Answer - the C-Store Professor

2011-05-09T17:38:00.002-04:00

Loyalty - Loyalty - Loyalty. Everyone screaming Loyalty. And that is good.

What isn't so good is believing that loyalty cards and social media is the entire answer.

The entire answer is building a great relationship that no one can destroy or infiltrate.

Maybe I am a little antiquanted here. My son and his wife continuously text one another, including posting their thoughts and feelings and frustrations with family members and the world. Does this really enhance their relationship more than relationship between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning?

I think not.

Especially when I am limited to 125 or 400 characters.

So how does one overcome this difficulty?

I recall a pharmacist I met several years ago. His pharmacy was a 1000 square foot pharmacy in a 6000 person town. Obviously, not a great amount of customer growth possible,

The pharmacist began to write weekly articles in the weekly newspaper (this was before the Internet). His articles were not about Your Health, Aging Gracefully or the latest male enhancement pill that made you feel like a teenager. Instead, his articles were about the community.

Examples include: The local football game against their rivals, the upcoming farmer's festival, the Jimmy Buffett Cheeseburger in Caseville party, the church rally at the local Catholic church, articles about the local grade school teacher who just retired after 50 years with the local schools.

This pharmacist so endeared others in the community to him that his customers put a regional chain store that was built in the same community out of business within a year. This was not vindictiveness or anger - it was simply the locals expressing their loyalties with their wallets.

EVERY C-store, whether independent, a small chain or a interational corporation can do this - as long as they put their hearts and business minds toward catering to their customers.

It's social - it's meaningful - and it's protfitable. EVERY TIME. Want more information? Go to www.cstoregrowthprofessor,com

5 Thoughts about Starting a Business

2011-05-04T13:51:00.000-04:00

I was recently interviewed and asked – what are your 5 thoughts about Starting a Business. I thought briefly about this. Literally 2-3 minutes. And here are my thoughts:

NICHE. When starting a business, be sure you have a niche. You cannot have a business to caters to everyone. Donald Trump is not simply a real estate investor or a landlord. He has specific locations, income levels, lifestyle, and other demographic and psycho-graphic information that he caters to.

When you are an accountant or an attorney or an engineer who has worked for a business for a number of years, and determine that you desire to have more control over your life, you simply don’t decide to hang out a shingle. Once again, you SHOULD determine your perfect client – and the better grasp and vision you develop about this perfect client, the better. And marker exclusively to that client base (although be willing to take clients that are not in that client base).

Recently I attended a networking event. When asked what I did, I noted I did Business Growth Consulting for the niche I am focused on. By the end of the meeting, I had eight referrals regarding clients, in 5 different business classifications (obviously, four of them did not fit my niche, but I am able to provide the same services to these four other businesses just as easily as my strategies are immutable).

SIZE OF NICHE. If you pick to service a niche where there are only 3 prospective clients, do not be disappointed if you cannot attract more than two clients.

I was speaking with a client early today. He focuses on three different niche businesses, but his business is not thriving at this time. When we analyzed his business from a perspective of HOW many potential clients did he have nationwide, about 75% of his potential prospects were in ONE of the three niches.

Why does size of the niche matter? You will be able to attract about 10% of the niche fairly easily and from there, it will be more costly to attract additional clients/customers. Also, you should expect 1-2% of the niche to be your raving fans.

Going back to the example of my client, one niche he was targeting had 2100 potential clients throughout the United States. This means he would fairly easily attract 210 prospects but that he should be content on 21-42 clients if he focused solely on that niche.

By comparison a niche that another client is working is has 146,000 potential clients nationwide, which would calculate to being 1460-2920 clients being raving fans.

Which client has the odds stacked in his favor?

WHO ELSE IS SELLING TO YOUR NICHE. Why reinvent the wheel? Use the wheel that others have created.

Part of the answer to this imperative is don’t be a pioneer. Most pioneers go bankrupt many times over before getting their business to work. While it is very heady to be the first company offering a specific product or service, it is the second and third companies that offer the same product or service as the first that tends to do better.

Do you want an example? Apple had a Windows type of operating system long before MicroSoft.

I am not telling you NOT to go into business with a new product or service. It is very obvious the world is very different because of the ingenuity of entrepreneurs the world over since 1890. However, recognize that the number of businesses that survived and thrived in comparison to the number of businesses that tested the new product waters suggests that new products or services are less likely to thrive than something the public is used to.

In addition, keep in mind WHO is selling your prospective customers items that are a complement to yours. For example, an estate planning attorney, a financial planner who works with individuals readying for retirement and their demise and a senior center as well as a Long Term Care insurance professional are very good complements. Working with these complements to your product or service would allow you to gain customers much more easily than you would believe.

WHO CAN YOU COPY/SWIPE & DEPLOY.

MicroSoft copied the look of the Apple Operating System and overlaid that on top of their DOS Operating System.

Ferrari copied and actually adsorbed quite a bit of Alfa Romeo’s racing endeavors at the end of World War II.

Observing an advertisement, then observing how a business is attracting or retaining customers based on that advertisement and copying the ads that work will give your business similar results, whether you borrow from a direct competitor in another geographic area or in another industry.

REALISTIC FAITH Napoleon Hill, in his classic Think and Grow Rich, discusses the positive thinkers or those with Positive Mental Attitude (I am recalling this, or I cannot off the top of my head remember the chapter of this story) were the individuals who recognized the over-exuberance of the stock market in the late 1920s and took precaution so that the Crash of 1929 did not affect them much.

The moral of the story – Have Faith.

Faith is being Certain of Things not seen, according to the good book.

Faith is not doing the exact same experiment 10,000 believing your electric light bulb will work on the 10,001 try. I personally would call that insanity.

Do you need more insight on how to start a business and make it thrive? Email Ted at TedLeithart dot com to receive a FREE recording of the 8 Keys for Your Business to Thrive in Any Economy.

STOP NETWORKING AND START MAKING MONEY (by Early to Eise newsletter)

2011-05-02T09:06:00.000-04:00

Stop Networking and Start Making Money
By MaryEllen Tribby

It's a self-marketing tactic I've come to hate...

I'm talking about networking.

When you get down to it, networking is cold, sterile... and it seems self-serving: one person trying to form a web of contacts whose sole purpose is to do something for him.

That's not how I want to do business.

Lately, I've been rethinking what "networking" means. When I meet people at a so-called "networking" event, what is my end-game?

And you know what? My ultimate goal is not to find out what they can do for me... It's not to add them to my address book until I need something from them...

It's to connect with them!

When I meet people, I want to really understand why they do what they do. I want to find out if their purpose and mission is synergistic with my purpose and mission for Working Moms Only. And, if it is, how we can work together or for one another to best serve our prospective communities. I think of it as "What can we do for each other?" instead of "What can you do for me?"

When I take this approach, deals follow. And when a deal is made between two people (notice I did not say two businesses) who have connected - as opposed to "networked" - money usually follows.

Making a connection does require a bit more "work" than simply shoving your business card at a potential client. But the extra money you can make and the new opportunities you can open up to your community are well worth the effort.

Yet, all too often, people are scared to put themselves out there. Unfortunately, insecurity and discomfort can be perceived as arrogance or even disinterest. Sometimes, fear and uncertainty come across as a "What's in it for me?" attitude. That can offend the very people you're trying to connect with. And before you know it, a potential million-dollar deal flies out the window.

Don't let this happen to you!

Conquering the World of Connecting

At a recent event, Lisa Nichols and I were enjoying a lovely conversation over lunch. (Lisa is a well-known motivational speaker, and one of the featured teachers of "The Secret.") Suddenly, a woman I had met at a prior event sat down at the table and interrupted us.

She said, "MaryEllen, you are certainly a hard woman get hold of. I e-mailed you last week and I have not heard back."

No "Hi, how are you." No "Nice to see you again."

My first thought was, "Do you really think this kind of rude behavior is conducive to me wanting to do business with you?" But what I said was, "Yes, Sue, I received the e-mail on Thursday. I left to come here on Monday. I was planning on returning your e-mail later in the week."

This is a perfect example of why many people do not end up with business from networking events. They have not mastered event etiquette. Nor have they discovered the best way to make lasting connections.

The biggest mistake I see people making is assuming that their highest priority is the highest priority of the person they are trying to do business with.

By adopting that attitude, the only thing they will leave the event with is a lot of useless business cards!

My Top 7 Secrets to Creating Lasting, Money-Making Connections

1. Cultivate your business connections the way you would any relationship.

You need to project an image of warmth, approachability, understanding, knowledge, and empathy. Be genuine. Take an interest in everyone you meet, remember their names, and listen carefully to them. Try to understand their needs and determine how you could assist each other. Building trust is a vital component of relationship building.

2. Understand that "small talk" is the road to "big time."

Being able to talk to anyone about anything is a valuable skill in its own right, but it's absolutely essential for making connections. Being able to initiate a conversation makes it more likely that you will meet people who will turn out to be invaluable contacts. To start a conversation off on the right foot, keep a few key questions up your sleeve. Examples: "Where are you from?" "How did you get started?" "Do you have children?"

3. Develop active listening skills.

Connecting is not about selling yourself, your products or services, or your business. It is about showing the other person that you are truly interested in them. Allow them to open up and talk freely. Give them your undivided attention, even if only for a few minutes. Take an interest in what's said and acknowledge it by nodding or agreeing. Use positive body language - e.g., facing the person you are speaking to. And be sure to make eye contact! Never check your phone while they're talking or look over their shoulder to see who else is around.

4. Be a giver.

When you focus on helping others, the "getting" will follow. (And it will often come in unexpected ways!) Remember, nobody likes a "taker." But when you are generous, others will notice. And you will earn their respect and trust. One way to do this is to try to connect other people at the events you attend. It can be as simple as making one-on-one introductions or as elaborate as giving a testimonial about a person and their services to the entire group.

5. Don't be a Debbie Downer.

Put on a happy face when you walk in the door. Others will look forward to meeting you if you are energetic, positive, and outgoing. Keep in mind that people enjoy doing business with people they like - so be likeable! If you're stressed over things happening at work or at home, remind yourself of everything you are grateful for. Let your blessings fill you with happiness and confidence - and carry those good feelings with you. The last thing you want to do is burden other people with your problems. (They have enough of their own!) Instead, try to make them forget their troubles while in your presence.

6. Don't sell.

Remember what I said about listening rather than trying to sell yourself or your business? Connecting is not about pushing your agenda. It's about building relationships. Once you've made a connection, that person will likely be happy to tell others about who you are and what you do. And word of mouth is a thousand times more effective than you talking about how great you are.

7. Follow up with originality.

Many people think that the same old e-mail follow-up is always okay. Well, it's not. After the event, send a hand-written note... a poem you wrote about something you discussed... or a relevant newspaper clipping. If you have truly made a connection, the follow-up will be easy and effortless.

By having the right attitude, connecting with others becomes second nature. People see you as someone they want to work with, not as a self-interested businessperson focused on making sales.

Don't Waste $250,000 a Month

2011-04-29T14:05:00.002-04:00

Don’t Waste $250,000 A Month

When I worked in the C-Store industry (I was in retail management), my boss came into the store I was managing. I asked him a simple question – “Can you name that customer over there?” “Who’s the one getting a cup of coffee?” “What’s the name of the customer on pump 3?”

His response: “Ted, I don’t know – and most of my managers don’t know the names of their customers either. In fact, Ted, I’d say you KNOW your customers better than any of my managers.”

“Isn’t it interesting,” I responded, “that you don’t know WHO our customers are but you spent $250,000 last month in Cincinnati advertising to WHOM?”

My boss didn’t get the point. But neither did any of the Regional Managers, Vice Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents, or the Vice President of Global Marketing at my company.

The point is WHY SPEND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS ADVERTISING TO THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO DON’T GIVE YOU A DIME OF THEIR MONEY rather than marketing to the thousands of people who spend $5,000 - $10,000 - $17,000 a year with you.

One reason – because my employer didn’t know who they were and didn’t have their contact information so they could market to them.

Don’t make the same mistake. You can learn a few EASY ways to build this “customer list” in a FREE video series. This is a video series that my former employer should have easily been willing to spend $250,000 as it gives you track-able, effective ways to build your relationship with your customers as well as building a customer list.

It’s up to you

Spend $250,000 a month on ineffective advertising that gives you no traceable increase in market share and no determinable Return On Investment OR go to the FREE video series at www.cstoregrowthprofessor.com

P.S. By the way, should you decide NOT to go through the free video series, please write a check to the American Red Cross for $25,000 (that’s only 10% of what my former employer was wasting every month in the city I live in). After all, if you are willing to give money away, you might as well donate to a worthy cause.

Auntie Em, the Sky is Falling, cried Chicken Little

2011-04-28T17:43:00.000-04:00

“Auntie Em, the Sky is Falling, ” cried Chicken Little

Thank you to Michael Masterson for this week’s blog.

If you read and study Napoleon Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich, you will learn that Napoleon Hill noted that “realists” warning of the coming economic crash in the late 1920s were the true positive thinkers, because they thought with open eyes, rather than being Pollyanna’s. The negative thinkers, Hill says, were the ones who preached economic prosperity no matter the times and indications.

In other words, Edison didn’t need to repeat the same experiment 10,000 times to make the light bulb work. He tested 10,000 iterations based on the knowledge he had AND the knowledge he gained from each of his tests.

Our economy is going to realize some major upheavals in the next while and that is for ONE reason only (and this is not a political statement – it is a historical statement). It is VERY difficult to write $14,000,000,000,000 in bad checks without someone noticing. Our unemployment rate is officially in the 9% range, while some experts note the actual rate of unemployment is 16%.

Gold reached a new high today. Oil is at $112 per barrel. Again because of no longer being able to hide the fact that you cannot continue to write bad checks forever without some repercussion.

THIS IS TED’s BLOG. STOP BEING A NEGATIVE person, TED. OK, so here’s the positive.

1. Fortune 500 companies have laid off an average of 1 million employees EVERY year for the past 30 years

2. Small businesses and start-up businesses have added 17 million employees to their payrolls EVERY year for the past 30 years.

3. During the 1930s, there were more millionaires created in the United States than in any other decade of the 20^th Century. These include:

a. The Chicago World’s Fair organizers generated over one billion dollars in today’s money between gate sales, souvenirs, food, fuel and lodging over the 24 months it was in Chicago.

b. Kellogg’s cereals increased their sales by double digits every year during this decade

c. Charles Darrow became a millionaire by refining a game into Monopoly

d. Michael Cullen became a millionaire as the inventor of the SuperMarket

The point?

There’s money to be made – TODAY and EVERY DAY! The only question is whether it is going to be YOU or someone else that is going to make it. Yes, time’s will be tough!

Are you tougher?

The World War 2 generation is considered by many to be the greatest generation of Americans. WHY? Because they accepted the position their life was in – the position their family was in – and went out and didn’t let anything stop them from achieving their dreams.

Want a short cut to your dreams? It can be found EVERY month at www.TedLeithart.com/Business ProsperityGroup.html

It can also be found at Xavier University this summer in Marketing 621 – Entrepreneurial Marketing, which will feature guest lecturers such as Kevin Halbert (Gary Halbert’s son), John Carlton, Keith Luscher, Spike Humer, Maureen Castonguay and others.

It can also be found at www.CStoreGrowthProfessor.com

Happy Hunting! (while you are at it, take aim at Chicken Little).

Guerilla Marketing

2011-04-22T11:45:00.000-04:00

Guerilla Marketing

How do you make lemonade out of lemons? Easy – Guerilla Marketing is always the answer.

Case in point: I business acquaintance recently invited me to attend an industry trade show with him. I signed up for the show on their web site and drove an hour to attend the event. While registering at the reception desk, I was told I was not registered. As a result, I waited for the MC of the production to speak with me and welcome me into the show.

The Vice President of the company hosting the trade show welcomed me and mentioned that I was not welcome to attend the trade show as he was not one of his customers. While I understand a concern over losing customers to competitors based on “vulture” sales people attending a trade show, I noted I was not a competitor, but actually a complement to his business.

It didn’t matter to the VP. I found it humorous as it continued to affirm my understanding of this $500 Billion industry – they are CLUELESS about anything that doesn’t conform to SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) in this industry.

As a result, I went to my car and distributed my materials to every other vehicle in the parking lot for over an hour.

Lemonade – tasted great, even on this brisk, windy, cool Spring morning.

A mentor of mine mentioned similar strategies he has undertaken over the years. These include:

· Handing out flyers for his event at the door of the convention. His event was filled – the convention speakers were wondering where all the people were

· Posting flyers in the parking lot of a trade show that was going on that day

· Taking the strategies developed for one company (which turned out to be a deadbeat company – they don’t pay their bills) and handing the exact same strategies over to a competing company for a higher fee than the original company had negotiated

· Using a customer list (the customer list was developed jointly and owned jointly - my mentor was not privy to use of the list as long as the relationship lasted) and selling “back-end” products and services to that list

These are just a few ways – there are many. The real question is – Is Your Business Acting Like a 800 pound gorilla, making lemonade out of the economy or unethical clients? That type of lemonade can be the best tasting and fulfilling lemonade!

Consistency Leads to Customer Loyalty

2011-04-21T12:06:00.000-04:00

I find it amazing how inconsistent some businesses are. One day you order breakfast and it comes to you in a way that you feel you are at a 5 Star resort. You appear at the same location a few days later and the same business doesn’t rate even a 2 ½ star.

That’s why McDonald’s has systems. So does every other business that thrives. If you depend on your staff, without systems, you have no clue what you are going to get from one day to the next.

Similarly, when I was in retail management several years ago, I took pride in the way the customers were treated, how clean the place looked, how clean and fresh our products looked. If I stopped by the same retail store today, you’d wonder when the last time was that the store was cleaned.

Are you doing this? Are you inconsistent? Are you following your systems?

There’s a reason why the U.S. Military, when commanded by U.S. Military officers, have never been defeated in war. A large part of this is their commitment to follow proven policies, procedures and systems.

I recently was advised that a local store owner who could not qualify for a SBA loan needed help improving his store. I spoke with him for almost an hour before he blurted out – “How can you help me?”

I set out a small task that he was to do over the next couple of weeks. I would follow up with him and give him the next piece of the answer at that time.

When I showed up a couple of weeks earlier, the store owner began to tell me all the reasons why the simple assignment would not work. I listened for several minutes before commenting that his primary need was to build a strong relationship with his existing customers and the assignment was the first step in doing so.

The business owner replied that what he really needed was the SBA loan that he requested. I commented that a SBA loan would do him no good if he didn’t work to enhance the relationship and the value he gave his customers. Before leaving, I gave him some books to review, noting when he realized the value of the insights I was providing him, I’d be happy to help him in his situation. The problem was this business owner was consistent poor in service (even the trash on the floor had not been moved in two weeks).

What would have been worse would have been inconsistency. Although the above business owner’s customers were poorly served, they were served in his business in a manner they expected.

Another business I assisted a while back had that problem. The owner would promise the world, provide much less and then wonder why he had difficulty retaining clients (and friends).

My question to you: Are you consistent while striving to have that consistency as systemized as McDonald’s? That’s the way to business prosperity!

Join us at the next Business Prosperity Group on May 17^th at 11 a.m.

Gift Horse

2011-04-07T11:52:00.000-04:00

I recently was requested to help a friend in a personal
way. After weighing the circumstances
and the possible consequences of the request, I realized that I could not
perform in the manner requested. I found
it too risky.

So I did the next best thing – I offered an alternative that
in many ways was better than the original proposal. The alternative proposal angered this
friend. In fact, this friend went so far
as to verbally abuse me for not performing in the manner he wanted. Why – because the only gift horse that was
acceptable was the one this friend desired.

How does this relate to your business?

Most if not all of us have always heard that the customer is
always right. In fact, we’ve been
conditioned to believe that we should believe the customer is always right no
matter how wrong they are.

I am not saying to be an offense to a customer. I am saying to determine whether the
relationship with that customer is revered. Do you revere that customer? Does
that customer revere you?

If not, it may be better to let that customer go to your
competitor.

Let’s face it – many of us have customers that are difficult
to deal with. In fact, some of us have
customers that are so difficult to deal with that it causes angst every time
you work with that customer. Is that the
reason why you went into business – to improve your Maalox stock performance
based on your personal consumption?

It may be time to fire that customer – especially if the ROI
on that customer, both in terms of cashflow AND in terms of revering the
relationship is not there. I know of
many business owners who have improved their cashflow AND their business (and
personal) lives by letting those customers go elsewhere and keeping the
customers who you love and who revere the service you give them.

Do you have a need for incorporating other strategies and
methods into your business that result in lowering your consumption of
Maalox? If so, why not attend the
Business Prosperity Group on April 19^th at 11 a.m. RSVP to Ted@TedLeithart.com

We meet at a convenient location – 15 minutes from anywhere
in the greater Cincinnati area.

What I Learned from Groucho Marx

2011-04-04T10:19:00.000-04:00

What I
Learned from Groucho Marx

I went to college in the late 1970s. During that time, there was a resurgence of Groucho
Marx’s popularity. It may have had to do
with the movie Reefer Madness. Having
never been attracted to the drug culture, my personal interest in him was his
quick wit and his ability to convey a double meaning at a moment’s notice.

As a result of my interest in Groucho, I purchased 3-4 books
about his life. One of Groucho’s many
stories was his story about how to beat the great depression.

Groucho was VERY involved in the stock market gains of the
1920s. So much so, that when the theatre
paid him, he would RUN to his stock broker so he could buy more and more
stocks. Stocks were going up and up and
up in the late 1920s with no end in sight.

The only similarity I have had to this personally enjoyed was
a stock I owned in 1986 that increased in value by 300% over 12 months. Additionally, I purchased a car in 1985
increased in value by over 1000% over a four year period (it’s worth less today
than it was in 1989).

Unfortunately, Groucho got caught in the stock market crash
of 1929. He lost $250,000 (that would be
an equivalent to $2.5-5 million
today). But Groucho continued to thrive
even after he lost his life savings. WHY?

He was making $2000 per week at the time.

So what is the moral of the story? The moral is to have a business, a service, a
product that your customers or clients or audience are so endeared and
overjoyed to have that they continue to spend money on you and your business
even in a Great Depression.

My question to you is whether your business is so attractive
to your clients and customer (or members or audience) that they will continue
to spend money with you, even in economically difficult times. If not, it’s time to visit the Business
Prosperity Group on April 19^th at 11 a.m. Additional information may be found at www.TedLeithart.com/BusinessProsperityGroup.html

Do All Roads Lead to Your Business?

2011-03-28T09:55:00.000-04:00

The Milliarium Aureum, or the Golden Milestone was a monument in the forum inside the city of
ancient Rome. It was said that all roads
began at that began at that point, and the size of the Roman Empire was
measured from that central location.

Where is the Golden Milestone in your
business? What is the central focal
point in your business and do all aspects of your business lead back to it?

Studies reflect that most businesses,
especially small businesses, use 1 to 3 strategies to attract and retain their
customers. And as long as those one to
three strategies are working well, the business performs well.

But what happens if one of these strategies
stops working well, due to changes in customers’ preferences, the economy, and
other factors? Most likely, your
business begins to flounder and fail.

A friend of mine addressed the problem in this
manner. You wouldn’t build a house or a
building using one column. You would have
many columns to share the load of the building. In fact, building a house or a building with one main column may
actually become cost prohibitive as that one column will have to be so well
engineered that it is extremely costly to maintain or use. Doing so and not maintaining and monitoring
the health of that one column would be catastrophic.

So it is imperative to continue to build more
and more roads that “lead to Rome” within your business. Otherwise, a person travelling along these
paths to your business may get sidetracked and led to a competitor.

Do you have several of these paths and
strategies within your business – or the typical one, two or three?

The Business Prosperity Group has been discussing multiple ways to attract and
retain clients for the past several months. In other words, building multiple ways to attract and retain your
customers – and bring them to your Millarium Aureum, your business.

Overwhelmed?

2011-03-18T10:19:00.000-04:00

Overwhelmed? Delegate it!

Have you ever felt your business was overwhelming you – that
the business was running you rather than you running the business?

Many business owners have felt that way – and have done
little to fix the problem. It is a
problem when the business owner doesn’t work it out. When the business owner takes the initiative
to work out the problem, it is an opportunity.

Problems that are worked out is insanity – doing the same
thing over and over and expecting different results.

I’ll give you a situation from my own life. Over the past few months I have re-oriented
part of my business to serve one industry.
Recently I went to a 5 state convention for this industry and quickly
realized the opportunity to provide specific services for this industry. But the problem was HOW to do this without
being totally overwhelmed within a week.
But I realized before taking on this industry that the
business was not about Ted. I wanted the
entire business and service I would provide to be about the system. Because the system continues to generate cash
flow even when you are at home, on vacation, etc.

Does this sound self serving? It shouldn’t – if it does, I certainly hope
you are not the owner of the business you work for (or in). No matter how altruistic you want to be,
without cash flow, nothing gets done (and without cash flow, the after effects
of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan will never be resolved entirely). Cash flow is that important to any entity.

Getting back to my story, what did I do?

I went out and found people to delegate to – friends that I
knew could do the work for me – posting positions and requests on various web
sites where other experts and wizards of business hang out.

As a result, rather than struggling for months to try to
keep ahead of the tsunami of work (and clients) I envision coming my way over
the next few months, I will be able to ride above this high influx of clients,
just like a surfer rides the waves.

Delegation. Do it or
die!

2011-03-11T14:31:00.000-05:00

I’ve been writing about the importance of having a niche
over the past couple of weeks – and I will continue my story today as a friend
and mentor gave me additional insight about having a niche this week.

Back in the 1980s, Ford Motor Company owned a diversity of
businesses. Whether it related to the
automobile manufacturing industry or not, Ford probably had their fingers in
it. Luckily, FoMoCo realized that they
were a car and vehicle manufacturer. When they did so, they sold off businesses that did not directly support
their auto building efforts.

In other words, while they scratched a lot of businesses off
the books at FoMoCo during those years, they didn’t scratch their niche,
automobile manufacturing.

This is an extremely important lesson to reconsider as we
move into 2011. Several economic
forecasters note that the economy is coming back. Whether it is or not is not a discussion I
care to have in this blog. What I do
care to discuss is whether you are coming back stronger, leaner, with the
business health and endurance that kept Jack Lalanne going for 96 years.

And that means niche.
Make sure you are cutting out all your ventures and offshoots
that aren't a part of your core business.

If it is part of your core business, it will:

Serve one of your core segments

Be related to a core competency or core product line

Enhance your core business with ad-ons or upsells and other
back end sales

Work as a front-end or a lead generator

Perform toward your mission

If it doesn’t, get rid of it NOW.

ONE HUNDRED PERCENT (that’s all of you, for those who
believe in improvements that can be over 100%) of your resources – energy – time
- money needs to be laser focused on strengthening your core products and
services.

No matter HOW healthy the economy gets, stay disciplined. It maintained Jack LaLanne for 96 years of
good health (until he went to the hospital for surgery last fall). And Discipline will keep your business strong
and healthy for the next 96 years – no matter how bad the economy gets!

Want to enhance your discipline. Come to the Business Prosperity Group. More information can be found at www.TedLeithart.com/BusinessProsperityGroup.html
or by emailing Ted to RSVP for the next event.

The "Niche" Story continues . . .

2011-03-04T14:34:00.000-05:00

Recently, I told you about a friend who had defined his
niche as well as his Unique Selling Proposition (USP). As a result, he could define how he was the
person to be considered in specific situations and to specific targets.

In other words, by defining his niche and his USP he knew
exactly if a person was a prospect or not – within a few seconds! Talk about leveraging time!

But the story doesn’t end here . . .

Another result of the accurate defining of his niche, his
connections and world of networkers began to send him referrals on a regular
basis as they knew the exact type of client he was after.

He began to get invited to several events in the region of
the United States in which he resides – events that catered to his niche. Events that he would have passed over again
and again prior to taking the initial step of simply defining his niche.

In one case, on the return trip from one of these events, a
potential Joint Venture partner noted they had a list of 6000 clients that
could use his services.

How difficult was it to define his niche?

Not difficult at all.
I’ll give you an example of how easily and effectively this niche
defining process can come into being –

An attorney I heard about practiced elder law. This is the part of the law that has to do
with the needs of senior citizens, or “elders.” The attorney was determined to find ways to differentiate his practice
from all other law firms in his region that also practiced elder law.

This would be rather difficult as many attorneys are very
apprehensive to “Market” themselves, even 30 years after the ruling that
allowed attorneys to advertise was made.

Testimonials are typically not an acceptable way to market
your law firm as well, plus the new laws on giving your typical results, not
extraordinary results had to be considered.

This attorney simply embraced a concern facing many senior citizens
– Alzheimer’s disease. He redefined his
practice not as another elder care law that “is better than the other guy’s”
but as the world’s largest Alzheimer’s Law practice (which it was – no one else
defined themselves as an Alzheimer’s Law practice).

Of course, when you have the world’s largest business
dedicated to serving a specific need, you can raise your rates as you are THE
expert.

All from defining a niche.
If you can’t define your niche, visit the Business
Prosperity Group on March 23. We’ll give
you insights on how to make your business different, attractive and the place
to be. Don’t forget – March 23, 11
am. 7413 Hamilton Ave., Cincinnati 45231
is the location. RSVP Ted@TedLeithart.com

A Key To a Thriving Business - in Any Economy

2011-02-25T15:59:00.000-05:00

The meeting was not that insightful until we split into
groups of 5 or 6 people. As I sat down,
I realized this would be a very insightful meeting.

You see, my friend, a financial planner, went to a networking
meeting to establish some leads that, hopefully, with effective follow up,
would culminate in more clients.

The oddity of the networking meeting is that when they split
into these small groups at a table, he realized he had sat down at a table with
4 other financial planners. So there
were a total of 5 financial planners and one “prospect” sitting at the table.

In typical networking fashion, these individuals disbanded
the exercise assigned to them and determined it better to divulge what they did
for a living.

Can you imagine this prospect listening to the 5 sales
pitches or these 5 elevator pitches by 5 financial planners, all within a 15
minute period?

What my friend found most amazing was that none of the other
financial planners had any differentiating factors to their sales
presentation. Four of the five (not my
friend) noted they were a financial planner with a specific company, stated how
they help people reach their financial plans and basically, the “prospect”
should consider buying from them.

You need annuities commented one. Why? The answer (truthfully) would have been that is what I sell. You need more life insurance – whole life. Again why? Because that is what I sale.

In other words, none of these 4 financial planners had determined
their Unique Selling Proposition nor a specific niche that they serve (age,
industry, or other demographic or psychographic).

My friend noted he too was in the financial advising
business and specialized in helping families with handicapped and disabled
children (my terms, so if these are dated terms, it is MY fault) to ensure they
are taken care of after the parents demise (whether it be tomorrow or 50 years
from now).

Furthermore, my friend noted he was teaching a class on
financial planning at a local community college and was pleased to be able to
attract some nationally known guest speakers to visit the class.

Amazingly, the other four financial planners seemed pretty
pleased with their generic pitch and didn’t even seem to recognize all four had
repeated the same pitch in front of each other.

The moral is whether you have a Unique Selling Proposition
and a niche that defines how you are different. It truly makes a difference in business, in sales and definitely at
networking events.

If you are having difficulties determining your Unique
Selling Proposition, email Ted@TedLeithart.com
to receive a free PDF version of the book How to Outmaneuver, Outsmart and
Outwit Your Competition in 60 Seconds.

The Seed Business Plan

2011-02-21T13:10:00.002-05:00

The “Seed” Business Plan

There’s a business plan for growing plants and seeds? Definitely.

In fact, the “Seed” business plan is the most productive, most efficient, most productive business plan and is used all over the world.

Before I give you the core essence of this business plan, let’s discuss why you need this business plan in your business.

• The Federal Reserve has increased their loans by multi-trillions within the past six months but their Inspector General is not knowledgeable of the recipients of those loans

• The current debt of the United States exceeds $14 trillion, or more than $40,000 for every man, woman and child living within the United States

• We (the United States citizenry) are obligated to debts (based on passed legislation) totaling over $80 trillion

• Depending on who you listen to, there are between 15 million and 30 million unemployed people in the United States at this time

• The current proposed budget for the Federal Government is $3.7 trillion, which adds $1.6 trillion to our debt (in this year alone). By the way, the entire national debt was less than this ONE year figure when President Reagan took office in 1981.

This is obviously a time that tries men’s (and women’s) souls. But, how is a business plan for a seed business going to possibly overcome these concerns?

It has been said the major determining factor on whether a plan or goal is successful is based on the attitude of the person setting that plan or goal in motion. Additionally, a great teacher once said “. . .If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

FOUL, you cry. Quoting a scripture in a business oriented blog is a foul. It shouldn’t be done. Are you proselytizing?

No, I am simply quoting something I know to be true in life – having faith makes the difference.

Webster defines faith as “sincerity of intentions” or “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.”

Whether you accept these definitions of faith will, in all likelihood, tell you whether your business will thrive or die. Whether you accept these definitions of faith will make the difference (when joined with others of great faith in themselves, their business, their society and their God) on whether our economy thrives or dies.

Need an infusion of faith? Come to the next Business Prosperity Group. No, it’s not a revival or a sales pitch for a specific religion. But you will see how taking the strategies we discuss and applying a little faith will move mountains (and your bank balance in a positive direction).

The Client Teaches the Teacher

2011-02-15T11:57:00.002-05:00

The Client Teaches the Teacher

Over the past week, I was working with a client on his marketing of his services. First, I find him to be VERY impressive as he does exactly what EVERYONE in his industry SHOULD be doing for their clients – but only a handful actually work for the client.

We went over a number of strategies and how these strategies may apply to his business – guarantees, partnerships, places to effectively network as these places would have the target clientele (which are a difficult breed to find at most networking functions, as the target is a mid-6 figure income earner with a multi-seven figure net worth).

So here we were talking about all of these strategies – he’s gaining insight, I’m delving out insight and advice in spaces, and we come up with several insights to enhance current marketing efforts.

At this point, my client asks “What about price?” He goes on to discuss his entry level product, how much of a profit he makes off of this sale and we move into the lifetime value of the customer, etc.

But the conversation kept returning to price – the price of the initial product, the entry level product – the product that leads to making the lifetime residual value.

At this point, the client pulls out a sheet of paper and begins to tell me what he has been working on regarding pricing. He shows me his entire price sheet, we talk iterations of the price sheet and I realize, my client is teaching me.

What is he teaching me?

One of my strategies is to borrow what is commonplace in other industries and deploy it into another industry. An example of this – borrowing the banking drive through window and putting it into the fast food restaurant industry (Don’t yell at me if the fast food windows came first as I am writing the story BASED on my recollection of the 1960s and going to the bank with Dad on Wednesday afternoons).

This client copied a pricing structure that is very, very commonplace in an industry unrelated to his and plugged it in, almost verbatim, into his industry.

The student has become the teacher – or at least reminded the teacher of the number one rule of great business growth strategists – I’m not the smart one – the industry is!

We talked about iterations of this pricing structure and came up with a solution that may bump his initial sale to double or triple the value for doing the same thing he is doing now. We’ll have to wait to see if the market place agrees with my 200-300% prediction.

To complete this discussion on pricing in his industry, I warned him to document the new pricing strategy and the results of these tests as it would be a GREAT product that he could sell to every other firm in his industry, teaching them how to up their initial sale. Considering the lifetime value of a typical client, this great new product could sell for 4-5 figures per firm.

Now that’s leveraging your assets.

If you want to learn how to leverage your business and assets to create more cash flow for you and your family, you can: (a) attend the Business Prosperity Group or (b) email Ted@TedLeithart.com to schedule your one time consult.

If neither is for you, individual’s and company’s like this client’s thank you – you make it SO easy for them to take the lion’s share of the market to their bank!

Some Ways to Get Your Information In Front of Your Prospects

2011-02-05T12:02:00.000-05:00

Some Ways to Get Your Information in Front Your Prospects

You know you don’t have to create new content every time you want to get some information out. You can reformat it or give the same content in a different media. So here are some ideas for doing just that!

1. Put your online articles on EzineArticles. They have over 50 million unique visitors per month.

2. Put your content into your newsletters, eith offline or online

3. Have your email only get your prospects savoring more, and then send them to your blog or website for the remainder of the content

4. Take the content from your teleseminar and put it into your newsletters or blogs

5. Your tweets can direct others to your content

6. Record your content. The exact same script in video (YouTube) format and written is not considered redundant by Google. As a result, the same content can be used twice (and the search engine doesn’t flag you for redundant content)

7. Use Traffic Geyser or TubeMogul to spread your information

8. Put your content on a DVD and charge for it

9. Appear on television and have your segments repurpose your content that you have created elseWhere.

There are many more similar strategies. And these are just to repurpose your content. In fact, one of these strategies I am using weekly to create new content that is based on previous content I have created, but in a different media. And this media is being recorded onto DVDs and sold as Info Marketing products on a monthly basis.

SO, what’s this about not having the time to put together marketing campaigns for your business?

Did You Have A Successful January?

2011-02-04T08:51:00.002-05:00

If you intend to be a successful entrepreneur, you ought to have so much occur that you can’t possibly keep track of it without a note pad and a pen to remind yourself of what happened 4, 8, 12, 16 hours ago. Zig Ziglar’s Performance Planner is all about doing this, by documenting what you actually did (and how much time and things you actually didn’t do).

If you can keep track of your business without notes, you have a Bigger problem!

Has your January been successful? One contact noted to me that he has 350 prospects for me. Another has a prospect list of 4000 that are already dispositioned toward my services. I am not trying to gloat – I’m telling you I have had a VERY productive January.

Here’s the low down - really good news and also, some very very bad news. First, it’s not too late to catch up, to make up for a slow-start January…you’ve still have a whole (well, a part) of a year to go…so get to it, and you’ll be just fine.

Now, the bad news, life doesn’t change. Neither does the country, the world, the city – what changes is how you handle what is happening. And if you weren’t happening in January, it’s early enough to take inventory and make some adjustments…

So, enough with YOUR pity party – Here’s three rules as much to change your life – daily – starting today.

The 3 Rules...

#1. Be hungrier. Have goals. Focus on them, obsess over them, be disciplined and serious.

Do you think, if you ask Donald Trump what he was up to, thinking about, or planning…what his goal was or project happening this month – “he’s have to pause and say, we’ll I’m not real sure, haven’t thought about it much, there’s just so many other things going on…”

I don’t think so. Instead of the Donald, he’d soon be known as The Dummy in business circles. And I am positive The Donald won’t let that happen . . .

#2. Use and make lists to hold you accountable and keep your priorities in order. Paper and Ink lists. Keep them in front of you, on your desk. Look at them, don’t go to bed until you’re happy with the outcome, what’s crossed off, what’s executed. Simply start writing shit down…work from a plan not a doohickey, a plan, something you can see, that feels real, that once it’s on paper it can’t be erased or deleted.

#3. Be all about the Numbers. In everything – work to the clock. Numbers. Focus on the money goal. Numbers. Count everything. Keep score. It makes the game more fun, painful sometimes, but that’s a necessary essential part. If you are afraid of numbers you’ll never make it…truly, stop being scared, you can only measure numbers, not how productive you FEEL, only how many results your productivity got you, how does it all measure up. Email me if you want to know the KPIs that every business owner should be monitoring continually . . .

A bonus – dump the time wasters, the negative people, in fact, stop hanging around people who aren’t giving you money. If you want a friend, find something they can buy from you. Geez. Common, other people work for a living, you can do that and be around people all the time, else you can build a business…a BUSINESSS not a social club. (Many networking organizations are – the top business strategist as termed by Jay Abraham recently told me – there is too much social and too little business in most networking groups).

You are only safe being in and around people like you. People following the same rules. People holding themselves up to the same standards. There are no exceptions to success, it’s not an a la carte menu.

Just remember, at the end of the day, it ought to look different than the way it started.

If you can do this everyday, and you follow the 3 rules, you’ll be winning the game as the year progresses, and it will be your best year ever…

I’m happy to help make that happen, get my support and the support of the best and sharpest entrepreneurs in Cincinnati at our monthly Business Prosperity Group. Rest assured, the people in the place for prosperity know why they are there – and they’ll help you be there for that reason to.

Is it Specific?

2011-01-31T15:46:00.002-05:00

Many people have heard the acronym SMART when defining what a goal should be over the past several years.

Specific – Measurable – Achievable – Realistic – Timely

But, how many goals are these things?

I’ll give you a great analogy.

A business acquaintance has been working 6-7 days a week for several years to build up his clientele and his business. Whenever we spoke, this business owner could spell out to me exactly what his value to a prospect was. I understood it well. But, I was not his prospect.

Recently, the same business owner determined to focus deeper on his business. Define his business as truly a niche. It would be similar to an attorney I am aware of who was practicing elder law (law regarding senior citizens). Rather than market himself and continue to be in a Red Ocean (versus blue ocean strategy), the attorney decided to further nich-ify himself. Overnight, literally, this attorney became the owner of the world’s largest Alzheimer’s law practice. And his rates reflected his new status.

Getting back to my story, this friend determined to put his business into a niche. Interestingly enough, even though this niche generates tens of billions of dollars a year in sales, there was no other business serving this niche in the way he desired.

Within a week of deciding on a niche, the business owner had 3-4 potential strategic partners vying to do business with him, and offering him over 300 prospects to serve.

That’s specific. That’s meaningful.

The question I have is – have you defined or niche or could you use the help to define your niche by attending the Business Prosperity Group? If so, check out www.TedLeithart.com/BusinessProsperityGroup.html for additional information.

Where’s the Return?

2011-01-31T15:31:00.002-05:00

Clara Peller ran around in an older automobile with a couple of other matronly women from hamburger stand to hamburger stand yelling into the microphone “Where’s the Beef?”

Today, it seems that every business has embraced networking. You have to network – You have to build relationships so that people buy from you – Network - Network – Network.

And networking works. However, trying to document how well it works is difficult. For example, how does an advertising or PR firm document that I went to see the first Star Wars movie in 1976 because someone told me “You have to see this movie!” More difficult would be to track down that referral so they can receive some type of compensation for giving that referral.

How well does networking work? Or are there better ways to systemize a process so that you know that for each $1 you spend in advertising, you are going to receive $x back. And I would argue there are better ways to track and better ways to be consistent than networking.

Otherwise, the number one method for a Fortune 500 company to market their services or products would be word-of-mouth and networking.

But, Ted, they are Fortune 500 companies and can afford to spend the money without worrying about the results. I’ll grant you that one, at least partially. After all, with the Super Bowl coming up on Sunday, the millions spent on creative and the millions lost due to no call to action are astounding.

The bottom line with your marketing efforts, no matter whether you are a one person operation, a small business, or a Fortune 50 Company, is that you must investigate in the marketing that pays off the best for you.

Which means if you are not getting the return you should be from a local chamber of commerce, a formalized (or independent) networking group, or your direct mail campaign – STOP IT!

And pick up the phone and call – The number if 513-833-7966. We offer a FREE consultation so that you can see some of the oversights and the “acres of diamonds” you are working over every day.

Or, you could show up to the next Business Prosperity Group. Either way, you will be thrilled with the insight, the actionable items and strategies and you probably will be saying “You have to see this group!” to your business owning friends.

Struggling with Your Job???

2011-01-21T17:39:00.000-05:00

Struggling with Your Job – then create a New Industry where Your Clients Already Are

I was recently invited to meeting of a number of small business owners – a Mastermind Group, if you will.

If you do not know what a Mastermind Group is, it is a group that is made up of individuals all dedicated to the same goal or outcome. The members of the Mastermind group are not from the same company or organization, or even the same industry in order to generate more insight and more epiphanies.

One of the attendees was lamenting about their job and their position as they had realized a better return on their investment of their time over the past year by providing “outsourced services” to her employer’s clients. These “outsourced services” were not something the employer provided to its clients nor is it something they desire to do. In other words, 50% of this person’s income came from sources outside of their job (and their employer’s services).

At the same time, this person was concerned about moving forward with the services they provided without hurting or harming the relationship they had with their employer.

Within 10 minutes of listening to the discussion, I had developed an entire new industry for this person.

First, the employee was to approach her employer about providing these “outsourced services” to the client base that had been built over the past several years. The employer’s choice basically boiled down to allowing the employee to sell these outsourced services or lose the employee. The employer would receive a referral fee as the client would come from the employer’s database.

Should the employer refuse, the employee could quit and solicit direct competitors (whether franchised or not) to offer the same outsourced services to the competitor’s client base and the competitor would receive a referral fee from the sale of this new service.

By the way, the employee had a list of about 20-24 direct competitors in the same metropolitan area which could be offered these new services.

But it gets better.

After the employee proved the concept, a 4-5 figure course on how to sell and provide these outsourced services to similar clients in different metropolitan areas could easily be developed. By doing so, the employee could build a business that would serve her with cash flow for many years even though she never directly solicited or sold another client.

Ten minutes is all it took.

The question is – What new business could you develop by taking an hour to take advantage of the free consultation that Ted Leithart and the Leithart Group, LLC offers? Then again, additional sources of steady income in such a wonderful economic climate really isn’t necessary, is it?

Do Your Customers Love You This Much???

2011-01-17T11:21:00.001-05:00

I am going to wax personal in this writing. Later this month my father will leave the title of octaginarian and enter the world of the 90-somethings. Eyes and ears aren’t what they once were, but the mind is there – and the wit.

Dad retired in 1991, so he has been retired for 20 years.

Due to circumstances within the family, it worked best to have a surprise birthday party for him this past Sunday.

Although Dad has been retired for 20 years, he had roughly 130 people come to his surprise open house to wish him well on his next 90 years. Additionally, he received birthday wishes from friends and peers with whom he has interacted with over the past 50 years. One high school friend of mine flew up from Florida to Ohio for one main reason – to celebrate with us. An aunt drove 5 ½ hours from Chicago to spend the afternoon with him only to return to the Chicago area later in the day.

So here’s the question:

• How many of your customers would treat you this way?

• How many of your clients and customers love you that much?

• How many lives have you affected that, 20 years from now, they will come to some celebration of yours?

• What are you doing to build these relationships with your dear, valued, best friends (who also happen to be your customers)?

• When are you going to realize this is where real wealth is?

• When are you going to call Ted for a free consultation so you can easily recognize these “diamonds and sapphires” you are walking past and ignoring each day?

Happy Birthday Dad.

A Few New Year's Resolutions

2010-12-30T16:14:00.000-05:00

• Sleep 5 hours per day and focus on goals and living more

• Read 2 books per week

• Physical Fitness is as much a priority as any other appointment

• work like my head (I don't have any hair to light) is on fire

• When stuck in traffic, make it productive time, not frustrating time

• Be a Better student of others

• Listen to the still, small voice of my spiritual leader
• Pay attention to those who deserve it

• Make ‘my inner circle’ my dearest, closest, valued friends

• Be Thankful and have gratitude for all gifts in my life

• Eat only food the way that nature (God) designed it

• Ignore things that take me off my goals and values in my life (especially non-business related Internet and technology time)

• Think bigger

• Execute immediately
• Follow my schedule and hold myself accountable for this

• Beat my deadlines

• Kill all time bandits in my life

• Enjoy everything

There you have it. Takes just a few seconds to read and sure helps to focus my energy in the right direction. Hey, the list could be a lot longer…remember, only human. It’s a good start.

Helping the Coach

2010-12-24T07:26:00.002-05:00

I have been working with several world class coaches over the past year – working to improve the processes, systems and results in my business (and personal life as well).

Some of these coaches are known internationally. Rather than bore you with names and details, let me tell you of an interaction with one of my coaches over the past week.

The goal of the coach was to get 250 of his clients to complete a task which was assigned to them. As a result of completing this task, he was going to give them a reward – albeit a small reward.

I will be receiving that reward as well within the next week, when I complete the task.

But I digress.

I suggested that my coach enhance the reward in certain ways. At first, he noted he did not have time to incorporate it into his business prior to the end of the year. As I recall, his comment was he already had 101 things to do . . .

My dry wit and sense of humor got the best of me and I replied – why not make it an even 102 tasks.

Within 48 hours, my coach noted he was going to incorporate my suggestion not only for the task that needs to be completed prior to the end of the year, but also incorporate it into other facets of his business –

In other words, he was going to reward good behavior (his client’s good behavior) throughout the entire business.

What’s the moral of the story?

1. You don’t have to be a world class entity to help people in world class ways

2. You do have insights that are beneficial to others, right where you are, NOW

3. Your insights can be built upon to create the entire next level of customer service and loyalty throughout your organization

So the only question is – Are you helping others in similar ways? Or are you having difficulty coming up with these insights that YOU have. If you are having difficulty developing these insights, a free consultation with Ted Leithart of the Leithart Group will give you three insights you can use to improve the cash flow of your business, beginning today.

(Epiphany doesn’t have to only happen on the 6th of January).

Who Is Your Target?

2010-12-22T13:39:00.002-05:00

It has been said that the WHO is one of the best advantages for your business. No, not the musical group. The WHO as in WHO are you targeting?

Many business owners cannot seem to grasp their who. In fact, should you speak to the marketing director of most large companies, their who is everyone.

No wonder they spend millions on Super Bowl advertisements that don’t sell, don’t tell and in many cases leave you wondering what they were advertising.

Here’s how important the WHO is.

As many of you know, I was a sports car enthusiast for years. In fact, sports cars are the reason I went to college. And the pinnacle of sports cars was racing cars. The pinnacle of racing cars was Ferrari as Ferrari was all about racing and sold their sports cars to finance their racing (Lotus founder Colin Chapman had a similar mindset).

As a result, whenever a new book, a new magazine featuring a Ferrari, a new periodical, or anything else Ferrari would come across my sights – I would explore how I could obtain it. I recall a Ferrari book I received for Christmas. It was read 2 or 3 times during the first 24 hours of ownership.

I was the WHO of anyone selling Ferrari memorabilia, parts, cars (yes, some old models were in the price range of a college student in those days), and so forth.

The WHO defines your niche. And the niche is where the bucks are made.

The more accurately you can define your niche, the better your results will be.

I am currently working with a client with a moving target of niches. We are focusing on ONE niche and getting the marketing working effectively for one niche prior to moving onto other niches. And we are completing SMALL tests within the niche to determine whether the individuals in that niche respond consistently to the message we are sending out.

After those tests are done, all this client needs to do is expand. If they are receiving a 7% response rate during the testing phase, they will receive a 5-9% response when the same niche, but a larger name list, is utilized. And the only item that limits this client at this point is how much money is willingly spent to put additional names within this niche into the campaign machine.

All because my client did his homework, tested little things before spending big dollars and through this process, found his WHO.

Got (your) WHO?

Can my 400 pound friend get into Olympian shape in less than ten minutes

2010-12-15T13:35:00.000-05:00

I regularly participate in a really cool business group. And it was especially interesting this month. Because it really showed how little of the attributes we have we actually use.

I'll give you an analogy. My best friend (from my junior high and high school days) is a tad bit overweight these days. He is about 2 inches taller than me and outweighs me by over 100 pounds. In fact, this past summer, he was tipping the scales at 397 (he's DOWN to 360 currently).

My question is: Do you think my friend can get in Olympian shape in less than ten minutes? Before last Friday, I would say NO. Now I would say it is definitely possible,

Am I crazy? Am I nuts?

No, because we did this numerous times last Friday. And my Business Prosperity Group did it again in 20 minutes yesterday (Tuesday).

Let me explain . . .

No, my buddy cannot lose over 100 pounds and match physical attributes with top athletes in a 10 minute period.

BUT, my buddy can take a slothful, lame, frustrating, overweight, unhealthy business and remake it in 10 minutes. In fact, he can get the strategies and thoughts and ideas that can make his business world class in 10 minutes - and with applied action, he will be a world class business just as he would be if he applied nutrition, training and mindset to his body to become a world class 200 pound Olympian wrestler.

Again, not only did this monthly event recreate about a dozen businesses in less than 10 minutes, but a smaller group (my Business Prosperity Group) recreated the marketing for a local business over a 15-20 minute period yesterday afternoon.

So, what's the point?

You are the only that is stopping you from achieving everything you can. It does not take a New Years Resolution, a call from a buddy admonishing you to get in shape, your accountant saying hope doesn't get it and change or else you're out-of-business.

The world class Olympian is within you. Of course, getting additional help by participating in the monthly Business Prosperity Group meetings helps!

OUTRAGEOUS!

2010-12-06T09:27:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up, outrageous meant something different to me than it does today. Growing up in a conservative, church going family, outrageous meant John F Kennedy and his extra marital dalliances (or Frank Sinatra’s). While I was not knowledgeable about those events at the time, my parents would have definitely called those actions outrageous as well as several other terms.

We live in a different world today. Unless you are outrageous, you are often overlooked.

For example, several pop or movie stars may pick some edgy lifestyle in order to call more attention to themselves (and create more of a following). For example, Don Trump believes there is no bad PR, there is only PR or a lack of PR. As a result, the Donald does everything he can in order to keep his name in lights and the press.

Television commercials and radio spots have also done similar things. In order to call attention to themselves, many popular ads may simply spend more time on marketing their edginess and fringe while the benefit of the product or service to the consumer is overlooked. (Watch the Super Bowl commercials – How many of them can you actually determine what is being sold and why you should consider purchasing it?)

Getting noticed may be different than edgy.

For example, I know of one very good marketer who has, from time to time, hand written his advertisements in order to call attention to himself that he would not get if he sent the same letter or mailing or email without the differentiating “look.”

Many of you may be aware of a postcard that I will be mailing in the next couple of weeks. I expect to get some feedback from certain non-profits who certainly do not condone what the postcard pictures (although I assure you, no one was harmed during the taking of this photo – and no laws were broken).

Why be outrageous? Why be so out-of-the-box?

For one reason – to get attention. The average American is bombarded with over 3,000 (I’ve recently heard the number as high as 10,000) commercials and advertisements on a DAILY basis. With so many talking heads saying “BUY, BUY, BUY,” one needs to do something in order to draw attention to your product or service.

What are you doing to be outrageous? What are you doing to draw attention to yourself?

Madonna, early in her career, did a number of things that were socially out-of-the-norm in order to drive attention to her singing. Why? My personal opinion is that she knew if she had to rely on her singing talents to bring in the bucks, she’d be washing dishes as well to pay the mortgage.

Do you have to do such things if you have the talent? YES. Some examples are Liberace, Victor Borge, Dennis Rodman, Robin Williams (Mork from Ork), Steve Martin (one wild and crazy guy), . . .

Maybe the right term isn’t outrageous – but the term is definitely doing whatever it takes to get noticed.

A different kind of school

2010-12-01T12:45:00.000-05:00

Jack Trout wrote a book several years ago entitled “Differentiate or Die.” This book was entirely dedicated to helping a business owner develop a market place for himself rather than be a commodity.

As a result, rather than commodity prices, commodity margins (which are non-existent in this economy), astronomical prices, HUGE profit margins, etc. All based on real and perceived differences.

I am aware of one attorney who worked to differentiate his practice. Rather than focus on “I’m the best, I’m the best” (which every half-way wise attorney will tout), he created an entirely new area of law. As a result, OVERNIGHT, he was the world’s largest law firm that practiced this type of law.

His rates changed. His clients lauded his skill to help with this malady they suffered. And he smiled all the way to the bank (which probably made him the envy of every attorney in the local bar association).

You can’t do it for your business, you say?

That’s why I wrote about a different kind of school . . .

First, let’s look at a commodity public school. They get a large percentage of their funds by complying with Federal Government edicts, such as “No child Left Behind.” As a result, they work to comply to as high a standard as possible, because the higher their rating, the more Federal government monies they attract.

One of the requirements to attract the most Federal dollars possible is to have a very high percentage of the students in the school district pass a standardized test. Since so many dollars are attached to the passing percentage of the standardized test, students are taught HOW to pass a test.

Here’s a different kind of school . . .

Rather than teaching to a test, this school teaches fact, logic and debate. As a result, if you know the facts you need to know for a specific task to be performed, apply logic and reasoning to the problem/opportunity you arrive at a very good answer. In other words, you learn how to think at this school.

As a result of this different teaching approach, the school attracts children that are not even of the religious faith the school espouses, because the student’s parents understanding how important it is to be able to think.

A differentiating factor that few are emulating as there are only 200-250 of these schools in the United States.

The good thing is – If you are a thinker, you don’t have much competition.

Thinking things in your business should be better? Wonder how to make your business thrive in 2011? Take a Different approach – contact the Leithart Group for a FREE Consultation during which you WILL receive 3 ways to grow your business in the next 30-90 days.

Loving the Customer you have

2010-11-27T07:47:00.000-05:00

The first step to economic recovery is treasuring the gifts you have (and the next step is to leverage them).

Are you treasuring the gifts you have been given? Are you treasuring your customers for the DEAR, VALUED, BLESSED FRIENDS that they are?

I do not say this in a manipulative way. I say it in a totally loving way. Are you in love with your customers? All of them?

There was once a very entrepreneurial based guru. He loved his customers – those who were sold on his service. In fact, he literally spent day and night to ensure that his customers were getting all they could possibly receive from his enterprise.

Not only that, but he worked to enhance the lives of those who were not his customers. Very oddly, this entrepreneur spent more time wooing those who were not his customers, working to demonstrate the superior value of his services, than he spent wooing those who were already sold on him.

But, he did not slight his existing clients. He worked to enhance the relationship he had with them. Yet, he also knew that his existing clients knew the value his business provided.

What bothered this entrepreneur the most is when he lost a customer. He knew he offered superior products and services. So it pained him when a customer found a new, shiny object to chase after – because he knew that his superior service could not be beat.

Amazingly enough, this proprietor continued to provide many of his services even after he knew that he had lost them as a customer.

THAT’s CRAZY, you say. Why would anyone continue to provide services and products to a customer who was no longer a loyal, paying customer? Yes, it was crazy. But this proprietor did this for one reason – he loved his customers (even his former customers) that much.

How did the proprietor do? Did he survive? Did he lose his business due to not watching the pennies as closely as he could?

On the contrary, the proprietor’s business thrived and grew. It thrived and grew because of one reason – everyone knew he loved his customers that much. Which lead to a loyalty factor that no one could beat.

Do you love the customer you have?

The answer to a healthy economy is Jim Rohn?

2010-11-22T05:19:00.000-05:00

I get up early every morning to read some scripture as well as some inspirational messages. I then go over the goals and actions I need to take today to obtain my goals.

So, this morning, I cracked open a book I’ve read before, but had picked to read again. It’s entitled The Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn. On the first page, I came across this quote:

The miracle of the seed and the soil is not available by affirmation; it is only available by labor.

I began mulling over this short passage and realized the converse is true – we cannot fall short of our goals unless we fail to labor to achieve them.

So, my mind began to question – what are we doing about the economy? Your economy – the US economy – the world economy.

Are we using affirmations (words) to try to fix things that were put into action (albeit poor action based on poor ethics and understanding, in my opinion) by others? Or are we taking action to deal with and fix what we have inherited?

Some are saying that we, the United States, are on the verge of economic collapse. Is this similar to Chicken Little, running around and screaming “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

Are we taking action and massive physical, mental and spiritual efforts to turn this difficult time into something extraordinary? Extraordinary, yes. After all, the United States has been the pinnacle of societal achievement in the world for over 100 years. The world (at least until very recently) looked to the United States for answers.

Since the United States is the center of the world stage, it seems to reason that we could, once and for all, demonstrate the folly of spending beyond our means as well as the folly that it is others responsibility to take care of me, even though I am able bodied and mentally sound.

Are we laboring to do so?

Are we too willing to point fingers at our politicians and leaders and scream “You did this to us” while being asleep at the switch as Keynesian economics has been in charge of our economy for decades?

It starts with us – you and me. Neither you nor I as individuals can change the world. We cannot change the continent or country or even state, yet alone the local scene as individuals. But we can change ourselves – for the betterment of our local, state, country, continent and world.

Genius has been noted as 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. It’s time for us geniuses to demonstrate our American ingenuity to others – for ourselves and our posterity.

It’s time to work.

It’s not time to sit and watch.

It’s time to use the seeds we have been given (our wealth, our health, our minds and our heart) to produce a stronger, healthier America!

You have the tools if you read these messages regularly . . . Are you using them to produce a harvest you’ll be proud of?

Economic Winter

2010-11-15T09:07:00.002-05:00

The Dow falling from a 15000 high in early 2007 to 6500 in the Spring of 2009. The Health Care –Finance – Banking overhauls. The 10-15-21% unemployment figure (depending on who is speaking).

It certainly sounds like Winter to me.

But is it? Here’s what I mean –

I recently blogged about two business owners who happen to be in the same business that are physically located within 5 miles of each other. One business owner suggested his business is in limbo for the next 1-3 years while the other business owner noted that his business is thriving in these economic times.

So one business owner says it’s Winter and another says it is Spring. For many who lived during the Great Depression, it felt like it was a decade long winter.

And the real question based on the above statement is – Then WHY were there more millionaires created in the 1930s than any other decade in the 20th century? Obviously, these business people did not hunker down and wait out the storm. They took advantage of the storm and grew to become millionaires and multi-millionaires.

There are many ways to take advantage of our current economic times. One of these is ITEX. What’s ITEX? It is a barter exchange that keeps track of the barter you create and provides you your tax information on the barter at the end of the year. It is a GREAT way to preserve your cash while Buying and selling products and services.

Another way to take advantage of our current economy is to provide more holistic and natural methods of maintaining and keeping healthy. Rather than depending on the rationed health care system that is coming in the United States (please do not e-mail me your thoughts on this as this is my opinion – and you have yours), taking advantage of eating better, consuming more nutritious food, getting into the habit of exercising, and other lifestyle changes will keep you away from the doctor better than anything else. The result is not having a need to be a part of the rationed health care system.

Providing products and services that provide such holistic methods is taking advantage of the current economy.

But what about ME? Your business is different. You don’t provide this or that – so how is my business to take advantage of the current economy?

A simple way is to have an analysis of your business be completed. You may have several hidden profit centers within your business that you do not recognize. The Leithart Group, LLC would be pleased to provide such an analysis for you.

Winter – Cold – Wind – Ice – Black Ice – Freezing Rain

It’s coming. There’s no way around that.

Are you going to take advantage of the coming Winter and enjoy it like skiers do?

Are you going to be a snowbird and run to Florida for several months and ignore that it is winter?

Are you going to take advantage of the current economy and leverage it in your favor? It only takes one phone call to do so.

Contrast

2010-11-04T05:51:00.000-04:00

We all know what contrast is – it’s that little button that changes the definition on the television. It makes the “edges” tight and defined versus more “loose” and ill-defined.

Recently I re-published an article from my favorite mentor, Jay Abraham, in my blog. In the article, he discusses whether you are a Victor or a Victim.

This point was emphasized over the past several days. In fact, within three hours.

I had two appointments with owners of companies who happen to be in the same industry on the same day. One appointment was right after the other, in fact.

I questioned the first business owner about how they are taking advantage of the current economic situation, the health care reform bill, the finance reform bill – and life in general to grow the business. And the business owner noted that we don’t know the game that has been structured for us to play, so we need to sit on the sidelines of the game of life and wait.

Wait for up to three to four years, until the specifics of these bills and regulations are known? The reply was “Yes.” This business owner continued, “In fact, the entire industry is playing a wait and see game.”

I next visited the other business owner, who happened to be within three miles of the first business and in the same industry. We discussed how this business was taking advantage of the economic situation. What a totally different story!

This business owner was continuing their education and training in order to gain insight into, what I would call ancillary services. It would be like a dentist studying reflexology, acupuncture and other methods designed to help patients in ways that a typical American dental practice would note “it’s not dentistry.”

This business owner went on to discuss how they are collaborating with others in these ancillary type businesses and cross-referring to each other. A number of other strategies were discussed about how the business owner attracts and retains their clients.

I asked, “So, how’s the economy treating you?” This business owner noted the recession, downturn or whatever you want to call it has been good for their business and their business continues to grow.

WOW. Same industry, Same location, Same training, Same degree equals Same result? No way.

The question is – Are you tired of the same old, same old and want more of what the second business owner has? Then, call us to receive a free consultation.

Or, are you going to let the economy, our elected officials, our laws and regulations beat you? It’s time to contrast your bankbook with others that are thriving in this economy.

The Secret To Being A Rock Star...

2010-10-29T10:47:00.000-04:00

The Secret To Being A Rock Star...

By: Scott Manning of Manning Methods, LLC -Indianapolis

A few weeks ago in one of my Private Coaching Session, with a real life Rock Star, we were discussing his preparation for making a big break with his career. That the time is now for going all out, and in essence going it alone. He’s got the success, the track record, and all of that – for now, I’ll not disclose who he is, although it wouldn’t be hard to figure it out... still You’d underestimate his career accomplishments to date simply for a lack of marketing presence, which is obviously where I come in.

In our discussion I ask him what he thought was the BIG Secret to making it BIG, and how others got their got their start which he’ll be emulating on business principles so to speak.

His answer without hesitation was – “You have to look like You’re already there!”

Now, stop, go back, reread that sentence. Because it’s more profound than on the surface of those 8 words – “You have to look like you’re already there.”

He’s dead on, not just for his business and success, but for Yours too.

And, of course “look” is the giveaway here, because it translates to look, feel, act, BE, as if you’re already there. Already where You want to be.

Not even Simon Cowell can MAKE an artist, unless they are one.

So, on to business, this is everything. Brian Tracy says, “you become what you think about most” which I think he got the premise from Earl Nightingale. I learned a saying in high school, I’m not sure who from, but “fake it til you make it”.

Let me make this very clear. No one wants to go to the restaurant “trying to be good”, they want to go to the place that already is good. And boy oh boy appearances really do matter, don’t they.

When I got my first ‘high dollar’ (at the time) client, I immediately went out and bought a Lexus, had to do it, because I needed the look the part. Now, there’s enough other stuff around me and no need for new clients, I could take the frugal wealth appearance approach and be fine.

Back to my Rock Star coaching member, he and his wife both emphasized that people want him to BE the Rock Star and that he’s always got to be performing, ESPECIALLY when he’s not on stage.

People want the experience, they want You to be the best, biggest, baddest: choice, option, service, business, person so they can share stories about you, tell people about you, and feel better about themselves because of You.

If you really want to make it big and sustain success, You’ve got to be a Rock Star in your business and for your customers.

It’s starts, not ends, but starts with You creating, living, perceiving, believing, acting, and BEING as though You are already where You want to be.

Execute of Be Executed

2010-10-29T10:44:00.000-04:00

What the HELL does that mean? I mean, I am trying my best. Isn’t that good enough?

Many business owners and entrepreneurs think in those terms. Doing the best – working for the future and thinking it will turn out well. But this is the stuff that Pollyanna is made of.

Pollyanna? Them’s fighting words!!!

O.K., so let me demonstrate my side of the argument. Let’s say you charge $50 per hour. Does this $50 per hour include the time you spend on the phone in meaningless conversation.

What about the amount of time you spend on the Internet? (I personally am coming to the conclusion that the largest reason for reducing productivity is browsing ).

What about the amount of time your administrative assistant spends talking to her new boyfriend?

The amount of time you spend doing errands for your wife during work hours?

Who pays for the errors of the staff within your business? You do – they don’t. Who pays for your staff to redo their mistakes? Who pays your staff overtime to catch up because they spent so much time browsing the Internet for a new car (that they cannot afford)?

Thinking that the business will perform well when you have these losses continually going on within your business is Pollyanna.

A wise mentor of mine once mentioned that should your staff be showing signs that they are not willing to be constrained by your needs and the needs of the business, but expressing their desire for freedom – give it to them.

But does Execute of Be Executed only have to productivity and staff? Yes, it does.

My ex-wife continually talks about the things she is going to do – someday.

Have you ever experienced someone talking about the life they are going to lead while laying on the couch, hanging at the bar, etc. These people aren’t serious.

And I am not saying to execute them. But, I am saying to get them out of your life and your business life as quickly as possible. They are holding down your business. If they cannot execute, don’t let them keep you from executing.

That’s the reality of business. You need to perform or not. There is no try. Performing and failing is not the same as try. You did something and you learned from it. Now you know how to perform better and more effectively in the future.

There was a book written for entrepreneurs a while back whose theme was Ready, Fire, Aim. In other words – Prepare – Execute and Evaluate so your Aim will be more on-target the next time.

How does Execution fit into today’s economy? Nothing is constant. Nothing remains the same. Sitting on the sidelines and not executing while you watch is a sure way to fail in your business.

It’s time to Execute. It’s time to Fire. It’s time to perform. It’s time to call Ted for the FREE consultation on how to leverage your existing assets (within your business).

Massive Action

2010-10-22T15:35:00.002-04:00

Lee Iaococca did this when he turned around Chrysler. He didn’t baby step or do one strategy to turn Chrysler into the great company it was between 1980 and 2004. He took massive action.

Lee didn’t bring out the K-Car.

Lee brought out the K-Car, the GLH and the GLH Turbo (which were $7000 Ferrari beaters at the time, should you be willing to date yourself that far back in history). He brought out the Maserati TC – a absolutely boring car from a Maserati standpoint and a GREAT way to move upscale by hanging a Maserati emblem on an economy car. He practically invented the vehicle known as the mini-van.

In short, Lee took MASSIVE action.

A mentor of mine calls it a force multiplier.

I cannot remember the term that Napoleon “Think and Grow Rich” Hill called it, but it is the term he used for a sum that is greater than the parts. Wherever two or more minds gather together, the power created by those minds working in concert with one another is greater than the sum of the parts.

It not only works with brain power. It works with industrial power and manufacturing power, as Mr. Iaococca knew.

What does this mean for your business? Are you using MULTIPLE strategies to gain control of the economy and make it perform to the betterment of your business? Or are you depending on the same strategies that were so easy to implement and bring cash flow to you - the leftovers from 2006 . . .

Are you taking massive action in multiple ways to attract business to you –and to improve your business?

Since I am asking, I might as well divulge the actions I have taken over the past few months:

• Utilized a business growth coach for several months to orient the business on offering multiple services and price points, rather than 1:1 consulting

• Utilized one of the world’s best business growth expert to overcome some gaps in my marketing

• Utilized the services of the sales coach who used to train Tony Robbins sales team

• Utilized the services of several NLP trainers to assist me with my communication, listening and persuasion skills

• Spent two days with one of the world’s top copywriters

• Stopped a number of networking venues where my targeted clients were unlikely to be attending or connecting

• Wrote two books in order to be able to position myself as an expert in those respective fields1

• Read several marketing, sales and Personal Improvement books rather than spend evenings with my wife (I love her and she deserves the best – so I am working to position the business to be the best). Sidenote: My seven year old son benefitted as he desires me to read him to sleep after his normal bedtime stories are over. (He is going to be a direct marketing and Positive Mental Attitude expert prior to his tenth birthday).

• Began a dialogue with a local university which has resulted in my being appointed as adjunct professor of Entrepreneurial Marketing

• Working to leverage my connections locally so that others will be selling my services (and others will be paying them to do so)

Why did I tell you all this? To gloat? To say, look at me, look at me.

NOT a BIT!!!

Simply to note that should a small entrepreneurial business is taking such massive action to achieve the results they desire and provide a extremely wonderful value for our clients, what can you do with the size staff you have at your disposal?

You see, it’s not the economy – it’s not the government – it’s MASSIVE action!

What’s Next?

2010-10-05T15:41:00.000-04:00

This is not a spin of a local company I recently heard about that uses “What’s Next?” as their tag line.

This is another aspect of providing continued benefit and value to your customer base.

You see, the average customer is rather jaded. From “Oh, WOW!” to “YAWN!” takes little time. It used to take longer, but technology has shorten the WOW! Factor.

For instance, when computers (at least personal computers as well as Desktops) were in their infancy in the 1980s, it was very much an “Oh, WOW!” world. The Internet was also another “Oh, WOW!” Today, when the computer doesn’t run as fast as we want it to, we complain about how slow the thing is – even though the power in your desk top is more power than the computers that took Neil Armstrong to the moon and back.

As a result, you never arrive. Your business never arrives. Even when your customer base is standing there in astonishment and mesmerized by what your product or service does, you need to be thinking – WHAT’S NEXT?

Where is my customer base, the market, the industry, the Wow! Factor going to come from next. And the very savvy business owner doesn’t wonder where the next WOW! Is coming from – they create it.

I recently read a book about a rather controversial doctor from several years ago. His specialty was the controversy – and he had the AMA and others after him on a regular basis. But, did that phase this savvy business person who knew how to market to his clientele and prospects? Did the controversy make the doctor slink away and hide? Not a wit!

The doctor raised the ante every single time. The doctor knew that he could not allow his detractors to control the minds of his prospects and clientele. The doctor knew, as any savvy business owner knows, that he needed to control his market, his niche.

As a result, the doctor grew a massive business – owning his own hospitals, marketing in massive ways that few have done since. And this before the age of the television and the Internet.

So, I ask again – What’s Next? What are you leading your customer and prospect base toward next?

Does Bill Gates sit on his laurels with his billions, letting others control the marketplace that MicroSoft built? Does Steve Jobs let others take the place that Apple possesses in the computer business?

Do you let others run your business by chasing their “What’s Next”s?

Or, do they chase you and your new promotions, campaigns, products and service. To paraphrase, “What’s Up, Doc?”

If you don’t control your marketplace, you may soon be saying “That’s All Folks!”

The ABCs of Success

2010-10-04T05:26:00.000-04:00

Action
Belief
Commitment
Direction
Enthusiasm
Faith
Goals
Happiness
Inspiration
Judgment
Knowledge
Love
Motivation
Nonconformity
Obediance
Persistence
Quality
Righteousness
Steadfastness
Thankfulness
Uniqueness
Vision
Wisdom
eXcellence
Yieldeness
Zeal

Thank you to Dare to Succeed. A Treasury of Inspiration and Wisdom for Life & Career

Victor or Victim: Which Will you Become?

2010-09-25T08:25:00.000-04:00

This musing is from a mentor I have enjoyed for the past 15 or so years – Jay Abraham. His point is so well written I have reproduced this letter in my blog. Jay may be reached at www.abraham.com

This "musing" has only one purpose: to provoke you (in this moment) to carefully reflect on your life, your career, your relationships, your family, your purpose, your values - and your legacy.

I say all this because - events of late have caused me to deeply reflect on an interesting dichotomy. Or is it a conundrum? Possibly it's also an irony.

What am I talking about?

You. Your success. Your happiness. Your value as a human being. I just came back from three weeks of complexly emotional experiences. First, I was in Mexico where I have a client that employs 17,000 people. That's correct - seventeen thousand people!

We've been working deeply on performance enhancement strategies for something like 20 different areas of their business. One of the key things that came out of these discussions is that YOU always have the ability --- in all of life to be either...the victim or the victor.

With the exception of "Acts-of-God," which account for maybe 2% of life's occurrences - 98% of your life, career, marriage, financial situation, family matters are ALL the result of...either things you DO or things you don't do. Seriously you can change the course of a life, a relationship, a career - in a heartbeat (as Tony Robbins says). If you truly want control, I believe that either you control your life or your life controls you. Life is a wonderful thing. You have the opportunity to do so many things, be so many things, achieve so many things, influence so many things, contribute to so many things.

But many - far too many - people today take the position of being victims. Victims of the economy. Victims of bad choices. Victims of bad luck. Victims of bad upbringing. I say...so what!

All we have, really, is today-forward! What we do with it really IS what determines who we are, what we are, what we achieve.

You can use this infinite opportunity to grow, add value, contribute to people and the world OR you can suck the life and emotion...and passion out of everyone you're around.

My life has taught me many things. First: We are in absolute control of our fates and destinies. In other words, I am NOT a fatalist. If you don't like your life, you really CAN change it - even today. If you don't like your body, you really can change it - with disciplined exercise and diet. If you don't like your relationship, you can change it or end it - by taking meaningful corrective action.

But most people would prefer lamenting, hoping, dreaming, remorsing or wishing rather than doing - "whatever it takes." I've observed tens of thousands of unhappy, unsuccessful people in business and outside it. Guess what they almost ALL have in common? Nothing! Or more accurately, they do nothing meaningful to change their situation, circumstances or plight.

Buying a book you don't read or don't implement on isn't something you should be proud of. Attending a seminar you don't follow through with isn't any great achievement. Paying a coach or consultant for guidance
you don't use or follow isn't something to be proud of, either.

My good friend, football legend Fran Tarkenton, said it best - when he said each and every day you've got to wrestle the "bear" to the ground and win out. The bear is your issues, problems, challenges, hopes and dreams.

When I first got married, one of my kids got sick. I had no money, no insurance and I had no clue. Guess what? I worked three jobs to make the money to pay the doctor/hospital bills. In 1971 I ballooned to 205
pounds (I'm 5'6-1/2"). Guess what? I went on a disciplined regimen of exercise and nutrition and got down to a very fit 155. I've had bad marriages - I either improved them or changed them.

I've been in careers that looked like dead ends, and I either changed careers, reinvented myself or found new areas of opportunity within the industry.

It was never-ever a "piece-of-cake." It takes critical thinking, courage, committed/continuous forward motion and action...then usually course correction; because the first "knee jerk" things we do don't always produce the desired result we want.

Most people "fold" the first time they hit resistance, a setback or non-success...in any aspect of their lives. Is it any wonder so few people achieve much (or any) of the life's pleasures, payoffs and the pursuits they say they want?

What's my point here?

It's nothing self-serving, I assure you. I'm NOT trying to "set you up" for an offer. Rather I'm attempting to "set-you-up" for a better life, a richer relationship, a more enriching career. I'm trying to tell you all that you have always had and wanted for yourself and family, you have today - right now at this moment and you will have it equally available throughout the rest of your life - total, absolute and magnificent control of almost everything you want, crave and/or don't want and wish to improve.

Whether you pro-act or react. Whether you initiate or contemplate.

Whether you feel victimized or "empowerized" is really...totally up to YOU!

There's a relevant story I'd like to end on - it's old but appropriate.

Two young Indian braves wanted to embarrass the wise medicine man in their village. So they decided to take a small bird and hold it in their hands behind their backs. Then they would ask the wise man whether the
bird was alive - or dead. Whichever he answered, they planned on embarrassing the wise man. If he said it was alive - they'd break the bird's neck before they held it out.

So when the braves went to ask the wise man whether the bird being held behind their backs was alive or dead, he simply replied "The answer lies in YOUR hands."

I conclude this "musing" with the same encouragement, admonishment and hopeful wish --- your fate, your happiness, your prosperity...your health - it ALL lies in your hands.

I hope sincerely that you will make the absolute most of the rest of your life. Because, my friend - you absolutely can and that's all you've got.

Regards,

Jay Abraham

P.S. Remember too - the process is what's really exciting, fulfilling and important.

Do You Offer A Sense of Belonging?

2010-09-21T14:58:00.002-04:00

Why should a business give a sense of belonging? After all, my customers come to me to buy my products and services, not to belong to my club.

Don’t be too sure! Think Costco. Think Sam’s Club. Think the Furniture Warehouse where, by being a member, you can purchase furniture at a FRACTION of retail.

Think the Playboy Clubs of the 1960s and 1970s.

Think private country clubs.

Think American Express.

You see, all of these give something similar – that membership does have its privileges. After all, we aren’t for everyone.

This is a way of taking your business out of the commodity realm. But, you say, I am a dentist – a auto repair center. I am a commodity. By admitting so, you are limiting the amount of cash flow your business is likely to generate.

Let’s look at one business – a dental office. I know of one dentist that revamped his dental practice substantially.

He locked the doors. He got rid of all of his advertising, including the Yellow Pages ad. He put a sign on the front door that noted that only referrals would be served and that others would be sent to another dentist in the area should there be a dental emergency.

He tore out the waiting room and made it into a high end coffee shop.

By doing all this, he took his dental practice to a level not observed – he could now cater to the whims of his patients as he was no longer a commodity charging commodity prices.

The result is that he raised his personal income by 800% while decreasing his work hours by 60%.

And his clients LOVED him for it – because he catered to their every whim. After all, he was no longer a dental practice treating his patients – He was a dentist welcoming his friends into a very exclusive atmosphere and level of service.

It is no different than what the local Lexus dealership does when they provide Internet and office services within the dealership. Or the fitness facility.

The real question becomes – How can YOU make your business into a business like the dentist? How are you going to provide that level of service that comes with the sense of belonging to a very exclusive club?

The possibilities are endless. The provisions are many and I am happy to be your “guinea pig” or “test case” in your club.

After all, membership does have its privileges . . .

Use Big Soap to Drive Your Way to Business Success

2010-09-16T04:35:00.002-04:00

Big Soap Inc. used to only manufacture one brand of soap. But they studied the buying habits or their customer base and found that the customer would buy for 5-6 weeks and then change brands.

WHY?

The customer got bored of the same old, same old.

So Big Soap Inc. developed several soaps over the next few years by adding different perfumes, different advertisements – one for colors, one for stains, etc. The bottom line is that no matter what brand of soap you purchased, Big Soap Inc. made money.

How does a small business owner do this?

A friend of mine in the auto parts business did it this way. He formed a cartel with other major parts suppliers for this niche and they share their inventory lists with one another.

As a result, no matter which parts dealer you call in the cartel, they have the part in stock (the warehouse the part is shipped from may be in Cincinnati or Detroit or Rome), but inventory is moved and one or more entities in this cartel makes money.

As a result, 5-6 players in this niche control the vast majority of parts sold. And, these players do very well for themselves, considering their business can be located in a barn and they work whenever a need for their inventory is requested.

How could you do this for your business?

Rebrand the same basic product or service with different add-ons, up-sells, etc. You can have the bargain basement, the middle of the road or the high end product (all virtually performing the same but with different adders). General Motors received a lot of bad press several years ago for doing exactly this between the Chevrolet and Pontiac and Oldsmobile lines. Yet, Smart Cars, Mercedes and Maybach pull this off very well.

Hope (Part 1)

2010-09-15T07:23:00.000-04:00

HOPE

(This is the first part of a three part series about aspects any business needs to consider).

Hope.

The Thesaurus notes this word in several other ways:

Utopia, achievement, ambition, anticipation, aspiration, assumption, belief, bright side, buoyancy, castles in air, concern, confidence, daydream, dependence, desire, endurance, expectancy, expectation, faith, fancy, fool's paradise, fortune, gain, goal, greedy glutton, hopefulness, light at end of tunnel, optimism, pipe dream, promise, promised land, prospect, reliance, reverie, reward, rosiness, sanguineness, security, stock, thing with feathers, wish

I recently read a book about marketing that was written by a former madam. Yes, a former brothel owner. She had a very interesting skew on marketing.

Her point was that every business works to fulfill the fantasies of its customers and clients. In her business, the fantasy was the middle- aged, highly successful business executive believing they could have the girl of their dreams for one perfect, intimate evening.

That has made me think for a couple of months – what is the fantasy that the Leithart Group, LLC is working to give its customers and clients? For weeks I did not come up with any answers, other than the nagging persistence of an unanswered question.

Until recently.

A friend and business associate (thanks Scott) gave me the answer: I give hope; I give buoyancy in a turbulent world; I fulfill desires (platonic, business oriented ones); I fulfill wishes; I bolster faith.

What fantasy does your business fulfill for its clients and customers and prospects?

Giving hope is an interesting topic.

- A teenage young lady hopes to someday marry a handsome young prince of a man.

- A ticket buyer hopes they will win Mega Millions

- A young couple hopes the pregnancy and delivery go well for mother and child

- A young athlete hopes to one day compete in the Olympics

I don’t look at hope in that light anymore. I look at hope as a done deal. Examples:

- My wife and I hope (know, trust, believe) our relationship will last until death

- The Bible speaks of giving people a hope and a future. I don’t think that Yahweh was saying, well, it’s a possibility . . . that you MAY have a future that may be worthwhile caveat, caveat, disclaimer, etc.

- I hope you understand my point

So, another way of phrasing the marketing question for the day is: What is the hope that is fulfilled by customers investing in your business?

How Can I Market My Business Differently?

2010-09-08T09:58:00.000-04:00

It’s all the same. Nothing is new. Nothing is fresh.

For example, I recently read where the television show 2 ½ Men is a remake of the Odd Couple. That American Idol is one half Gong Show, ½ Star Search. When you think about it, when was the last truly original idea you have come across?

And the real concern is how to make your business stand out so your prospects and clients recognize you as being different. It depends on how you want to portray yourself.

An Australian dentist changed his practice around to where it was oriented around working with his friends. As a result, everything changed. I don’t advertise and hard sell my friends to come and visit me – they come because they enjoy me and enjoy hanging out with me. Whether it be in a coffee shop, a tea room, or a garage with vintage Ferraris (250s and 275s and Dinos) and an occasional vintage Mercedes Benz 300SL in the corner (my life between the age of 16 and 30).

Getting back to the original point, how different do you really have to be? After all, mimicking the Odd Couple makes you a hit television series whereas my son would complain about the black and white Tony Randall – Jack Klugman show of the 1960s.

One way to make yourself stand out is to provide something that others are not willing to offer. It doesn’t have to be that different – just enough that your clients and prospects recognize the difference. After all, what’s the difference between an Infiniti I30 and a Nissan Maxima (it’s definitely the same under a few different body panels).

Ferraris, Alfa Romeos, and Maseratis have very close to the same drive components where they were fierce rivals a few decades ago.

What have I done to make my business stand out? Position myself as the expert. How?

By becoming an Adjunct Professor at a local university, teaching a class on Marketing. Can you do the same thing? Yes, you simply need to determine what assets in your background you wish to market (I simply had a MBA from that university and pointed out a gap in their curriculum – the university sold themselves on the rest).

And finding a need and filling it the basis of all successful ventures, isn't it?

Persistence

2010-09-02T14:39:00.002-04:00

“Nothing in the world will take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more commit than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

This is a quote from President Calvin Coolidge.

I recently heard a conversation between two world renowned mentors – one’s that I am endeared to for personal as well as professional reasons. Here’s how one of these mentors paraphrased the above. “It’s either Buy or Die. A prospect will either physically die or they will buy from me.” That’s persistent. He backed up his comments with a couple of stories. Here’s one:

Several years ago he desired to enter into a business deal with a top marketing expert. He knew the exact way he desired to leverage this work. All he needed was a partnership of this marketing expert to make the deal work.

To do so, he called the marketing expert each and every week for two years. Finally, around the two year anniversary, the marketing expert noted he wanted to hear what the caller had to say. They struck a business relationship in that meeting that has since generated $15 million in personal income since that time.

The same person determined later to enter another business venture with a top notch motivational speaker named Tony. It took 17 years for the connection and business venture to happen. In retrospect of the two ventures, my mentor reflected if 2 years of phone calls was worth $15 million to him since that time, he wondered what 17 years of phone calls would be worth?

I took this to heart. I began writing the CEO of a Fortune 10 company that day. I have been writing to him every day since that time. I must admit, just the writing exercise was worthwhile as I had to develop a subject line in his email everyday that would get the CEO intrigued enough to open my email. Day after day.

As I said, it was a very worthy email campaign for the simple reason of figuring out different ways to convey the same business venture through different stories and headlines/subject lines.

Moral of the story: Don’t give up. Never give up (as Sir Winston Churchill would say. Never give up (because the CEO emailed me back last week and we have a conference call set up within 2 hours of this blog /email being posted.

Are you keeping Focus on the Value Your Business Gives Your Clients?

2010-08-27T07:40:00.001-04:00

I recently came across an interesting bit of information. Did you know that there are only four (4) colleges and universities throughout the United States that have a required course in the U.S. Constitution?

Don’t you find it odd that we only teach the basis of our societal system at four places of higher education?

Ted, what’s the point – other than airing a little hint of your political beliefs?

The point is this – Are you doing the same thing in your business? Are you teaching and insuring your employees are engrained in the basis of your income – your cash flow – their making a living? Or are you winging it?

That could be a great reason why your business is not performing well. You are treating it with the indifference that seems so common throughout our society, and making everything and everyone into a commodity.

It shouldn’t be that way. You should be willing to treat your clients and customers with the same consideration you would have for that high school guy or girl you were so enchanted with – and finally got a date with.

They are your dear, valued, blessed, rich friends. Not because they pull their wallets out at your place of business. But because they are simply – your dear, valued, blessed, rich friends.

That reminds me of Tracy, my best friend in high school and since. It reminds me of times when Tracy needed a couple of hundred dollars (a lot of money for a college student in the late 1970s when a quarter of tuition was only $300). Did I give it to him? Without question.

Or the time I used Tracy’s credit card to purchase something by credit card (I did give him the cash for it) because I did not have a credit card yet (now I am really dating myself). Tracy allowed me to purchase the item I wanted not I gave him the money. He was a good friend.

So the insight for today is – Are you treating your clients and customers as your Dear, VALUED, BLESSED, RICH friends? If you are, they will be happy to pull their wallets out for you. No questions asked!

And that’s a societal value we can all recognize . . .

The Difference between the Winners and the Whiners

2010-08-17T14:36:00.000-04:00

We all know the difference between Winners and Whiners. Winners are the ones who are focused on their goals and do not let others sidetrack them. Winners have blinders on and, as a result, are only focused on their goals.

Whiners are the ones who believe the economy is about to implode, that the Federal Government and the Federal Reserve will go bankrupt in the next few years, that the only way to protect yourself is to buy assets and hunker down while the storm rages outside.

While some Americans in the 1950s were building bomb shelters in their backyards and putting bomb shelters in every public building, others were focused on bigger things. During the 1950s and early 1960s, our economy grew by over 300%. I believe I could successfully argue that the major money makers during this time were not building and designing bomb shelters. They were growing things much bigger than a fear based society.

It continues today.

There will always be those who judge and complain. There are those who will always believe that the blade of grass that is higher than the others deserves to be chopped down and the nail sticking up higher than the others needs to be hammered down.

The winners of society in the past, present and future continue to be the Henry Ford’s, the Walter Chrysler’s, and the Bill Gates of society. What would have happened to the modern age if Bill Gates would have not taken advantage of the assets at his disposal and build them into MicroSoft? Bill began with limited assets (and unlimited belief in himself and MicroSoft). Yet he leveraged the assets he had very well.

That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? Leveraging the assets you have and conveying a meaningful difference in the lives of businesses and their employees.

In fact, that is exactly what the Leithart Group does. In order to observe some of the tools you could use to leverage your business, you are invited to a free event on September 16th at 11 a.m. The topic of discussion is Referrals.

Yes, there are probably over 100 different events every week in Cincinnati focused on Referral Marketing and the real question is: How many of these events generate additional cash for the business owners and their employees who participate? I don’t know.

I only know we will be discussing a selection of 93 ways to obtain paying clients using referral based marketing. These are 93 ways that have been proven to work in various industries. The bottom line – you can join some winners that are already receiving value from these monthly Business Prosperity sessions or you can observe.

Just don’t come whining if the economy doesn’t work in your favor.

A Better Way to Goal Set

2010-08-11T08:58:00.002-04:00

A Better Way to Goal Set

You may think this is not something a blog about marketing should talk about – this should be reserved to the life coaches and the psychologists of the world.

But I had to write about it due to the help this person gave me. You see, I have never had any trouble setting goals and knowing exactly what I want.

And I do not keep my head in the clouds very much, so I do know the current situation. I always fell apart when I worked on making the map.

Let me give you an analogy. Let’s say the year is 1849 and you just heard about the gold rush in California (not Cal-EE-for-NEE-ya as Arnold Schwarzenegger would say). You are currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Obviously you know exactly where you are and you know exactly where you are headed – Sutter’s Mill, California. But, there aren’t very many maps to tell me to take I-74 to Indianapolis, then I-70 to somewhere in Colorado where you get onto I-80.

In fact, let’s personalize this more – I don’t have any maps to follow these steps.

So what’s the big insight now that you know the problem? It’s this. You know where you are starting. You know where the goal is.

Now imagine taking a balloon ride to that destination or goal on the time line in your mind. Once you get there and assure yourself this is the goal you desired, start walking back along the path that the balloon followed from your present to your future.

And note the things you pass , the hurdles and tripping points you had along the way back to the present. You may even add additional goals that you see come into your present along the path to the main goal.

What you are doing is seeing the steps you take to get to your goal in reverse order. Now you know exactly what you need to do first to get to your future.

Advertising Your Business

2010-08-06T07:25:00.002-04:00

Advertising Your Business

Many believe that it is mandatory to advertise your business in order to get your name out there. But unless advertising brings you qualified leads or sales, what’s the return on your advertising dollar? How about 0?

A great example of this is Chevrolet (now a part of Government Motors). A few years ago Chevy featured ads on the “Heartbeat of America.” The result of this multi-million dollar, multi-year campaign? Chevrolet lost 17% market share during the run of this ad.

Creative ads that win awards don’t typically translate into dollars in the till. Creative means creative, not salesmanship. In fact, many believe that you need graphics to attract a person and copy is the fluff. Rather, the graphic design should help enhance the copy – the pictures help to relate the story.

Another case in point. Several years ago a dentist radically changed his practice. He “fired” a large minority of his clients, stopped all advertising, took his ad out of the yellow pages, took his name off of the building his practice is located in. The results – his personal income went from $60,000 per year to $400,000 per year WHILE cutting his work hours from 50-60 to 23 hours per week.

Business strategy and insightful marketing won again.

What does this mean for you?

Leverage your client base that you have now and enhance the value you give them on a daily basis. That will give you a much better return than most investments in advertising.

How to Have your Direct Competitors Sing Your Praises

2010-08-03T17:05:00.002-04:00

Have Your Direct Competitors Sing Your Praises

I am going to personalize this story rather than tell the original version. I believe I can convey the point of the story better that way.

I believe I can successfully argue that there are hundreds of Marketing and Advertising firms as well as consultants in the tri state region in which I live. That’s quite a bit of competition that I have to overcome to be seen as the premiere consultant in the region. I could do this through massive advertising campaigns, spending thousands upon thousands to get my name at the top of everyone’s mind when they think Marketing Consultant.

I could also do quite an expensive direct mail campaign to do the same thing.

I could work to position myself differently so that my uniqueness shows through and can be conveyed to others throughout the community.

Or, I could get my direct competitors to sing my praises.

HOW?

By involving my competitors in a team or league or group that benefits not only the industry as a whole, but also gives some entertainment or charity value to everyone in the league.

For example, let’s say I love tennis as a sport. I may involve all the marketing consultants in the area in a tennis league. In other words,coordinate and plan the city’s tennis league for marketing professionals. In this way, no matter how well or how poorly I perform on the tennis court, my competitors sing my praises.

In fact, who would be the best positioned marketing person in the city during the time of year the tennis league is running? Which marketing professional would be on the top of the list of people to contact if the work needed was not completed internally?

And what would be the talk on the street about me?

Sure beats the cost of marketing myself in a more traditional manner.

Improve Your Employee Productivity

2010-07-29T14:31:00.002-04:00

Improving Your Employee Productivity

I recently read about a well-known international company giving their employees perks and incentives leads to greater productivity.

The article mentioned this company was a shining example. Some of the perks they offered their employees include free haircuts, an onsite gym, an onsite play room with ping pong, foosball, and pool tables, washing machines on site and a dry cleaning service – and more.

But the one perk that was over-the-top was one that ANY company could copy - allowing its employees to spend up to 20% of their work week on research projects - of their own choice. In other words, if an employee works 5 days per week, they can enjoy up to a full day each week on projects unrelated to their regular job assignment.

Why do this?

- It keeps employees from getting stale

- It shows that the company gives them a unique benefit they couldn't get elsewhere

- A number of their products in their lab are the direct result of this policy. So it's a winning policy all around.

As I noted before, this is a policy you could easily install into your own business. Should a full day seem too much, start with half a day.

Addiitonal benefits are:

- You'll high higher employee retention (it costs more to train new employees than retain existing staff)

- You’ll increase employee satisfaction and productivity

- You’ll possibly get valuable new products or services

The Retailer's Retailer

2010-07-27T15:44:00.004-04:00

There is a retailer who’s after my heart.

They understand business well. How otherwise do you explain $250,000 in sales on a MONTHLY basis without any special gas price to attract in customers.

Additionally, that $250,000 per month out of an average store size of 900 square feet (and only 115 square feet for inventory storage and the manager’s office).

How can they do that when the 4000 square foot convenience stores in the United States struggle to do $150,000 per month inside sales? Many convenience stores are lucky to break $100K per month even though they have 4 times the square footage AND a lot of storage space.

How do they do it?

By knowing their target and catering to them extremely well!

Consider:

• Providing grocery products the same day as the order is given to the store
• Knowing who their customer is each and every hour of the day

• Knowing what the upsells are likely to be as they know who their customer is every hour of the day

• Turning inventory roughly 25-30 times per year more than the average convenience store. I remember regularly throwing out an entire section of the stores inventory every three months because it expired rather than sold

• Catering to the customer on what you carry in inventory

• Carrying limited back stock

How do they do it? Easily.

And I’ll wager they put the square footage sales numbers at the big box stores to shame! All because they know and take care of their customers. Not as easy as it looks – but very powerful!!!

Beat the Big Box Store

2010-07-21T11:36:00.002-04:00

WHAT? Are you saying I can beat the K-Wals and the W-Marts of the world? Me? With my 2500 square foot one location store?

YES, that is exactly what I am saying.

NO WAY – it’s not possible. It is just as possible as Sam Walton taking on Sears by focusing on a niche that Sears ignored – the small towns.

Let me give you food for thought.

This is a true story. Consider a 1000 square foot drug store in a 6000 person town. Not much of a market. Consider the drug store owner asking the local paper if he could write an article on a weekly basis for the town newspaper. The newspaper agreed – and gave him the space for free (only charging for the ad space below the article).

Now the druggist’s articles were not about the drug store or him. They were about the community. It was about the community involvement – about the Farmer’s Festival of this week; about the Cheese Burger festival last month; about the upcoming high school football season.

It so happens that a 6000 square foot chain drug store built in the same town. What the chain of drug stores didn’t know is how the local pharmacist had endeared himself to the community. Would you believe that the chain drug store was closed within a year of opening.

Let’s consider the inside of this 1000 square foot drug store. How they sell more cards and Christmas ornaments than the chain’s Platinum stores. How they sell more homeopathic tinctures than the large Big Wheat stores. All out of one thousand square feet in a 6000 person town.

The only question is – How are you going to endear yourself to your clients, customers and prospects?

I’ll give you hints in the next blog about 7-11 Japan.

Global Piracy!

2010-07-20T15:15:00.000-04:00

Isn't it amazing how the world changes - and times change! I would argue they don't.

The discussion of the robber barons of 100 years ago is the same discussion that some people are overly compensated at a cost to others. The only difference it was called the Marxist dialectic in 1849, Robber Barons in 1890 and greed in 2010.

Is it really greed?

Would there be 7 billion people living in the world if there were not products and services flowing throughout the world to sustain them? In other words, if we had food to only sustain 1 billion people, there would only be 1 billion people on earth.

Now I am not saying that some things need to change - some people are definitely better off than others. And that will always be. But should there be oppression so that a person could not legally travel from one country to another to obtain work and a better life for their family, that needs to be overcome (probably overcome in the home country would be a GREAT start).

Are the business owners and entrepreneurs of the world greedy or loving their fellow man? Yes, there was a desire for wealth, but Karl Otto and others could have stopped their development of the internal combustion engine and we could all be out in the fields plowing, hoeing and harvesting on this 90 degree August afternoon.

I guess the bottom line is whether capitalism and free enterprise is something that needs to be suppressed or something to be lauded. Without free enterprise, there would be little desire or drive for things other than mere survival. After all, why would anyone do more than they have to if they don't gain in some way (sorry, I am a realist more than a saint - only my God can make me a saint).

I guess if the difference is piracy versus hindered personal freedoms, personal liberty (as long as I do not hinder your personal freedom) versus every crevice of my body and life being audited by someone else, laissez faire versus crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's, I guess I am a pirate.

And I happily sing - "Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum!"

Texting – the New marketing Media

2010-07-06T16:14:00.002-04:00

Texting – the New marketing Media

Yes, texting is becoming the new marketing media. WHY?

First, I cannot block a text. As a result, 94% of all texts sent are received.

Secondly, texts have to get to the point – your target audience is not going to read a 10 page sales letter in a text format (although that may be coming as the tiny urls with twitter get by the 140 character limit).

Additional advantages of text marketing are:

Measurable Results

Direct Communications

Increased Customer Loyalty

Simple and Effective

Spam Free

Case studies reveal that you can handle weather and season changes through this type of marketing. For example, a restaurant thrives when it keeps its tables filled. Let’s say there is a snow storm (a former girlfriend and I LOVED going to dinner during the worse snow storms as we were typically the only patrons in the establishment – so the crew served us or were bored – five star service at a little more than Chili’s prices).

But if that restaurant had texting, they could send a message noting a discount or coupon to their customers as a snowy day special. For example, a discount on your favorite anti-freeze (alcoholic drink) for the next 12 hours.

In real estate, you could find out information about the property by texting the real estate office and typing in the house’s identification code. Within seconds, you could find out who the agent was, the asking price, the property description, etc.

A school could send out text messages to all the parents about the snow day prior to hearing the information on the radio – and additional updates could be forthcoming so the morning isn’t planned around the radio or television (until you find out whether the children have school today).

Isn’t technology wonderful?

Define Good Enough

2010-06-28T17:35:00.002-04:00

Define Good Enough

My last blog I wrote that Good Enough is Good Enough.

What is meant by this? Have I, as a former aerospace engineer, decided to ignore making sure the design performs safely and effectively?

Not in the least!

However, we must admit that computers have come a LONG way since the 1970s. Thank GOD. I remember those days of key punching out the cards, running them through the IBM360 only to give you a confusing reason why your program did not work.

I remember spending three months trying to get the infernal computer to draw the basic shape of a cam based on the data I fed into it.

What if Bill Gates had sat on the sidelines and waited until 2010 until he decided that Windows was good enough to introduce to the public? Bill recognized that speed was of the essence.

So should you – especially when you have hundreds if not thousands of competitors who want the lunch you are eating.

Moral of the story – Be fast, be good. But be first.

Windows has shown us you don’t have to be perfect – just a little bit better than what the competition has to offer.

Good Enough is Good Enough

2010-06-25T18:26:00.000-04:00

Good Enough is Good Enough

It is amazing how things stay the same the more they change.

Edwards Deming went to Japan after WW2 to teach the Japanese Statistical Process Control. Three decades later Detroit was reeling and trying to figure out who had actually won the war.

During the 1980s, America went on a Deming craze. Being a degreed engineer working in aerospace at the time, that was heady. American Industry was finally getting it rather than recreating the leftovers from the 1940s over and over again every year.

After we got the quality up, American products were considered too expensive. So we outsourced to third world nations (read growing first world nations in 2010).

And to a large part, we got what our dollar purchased. Mediocre quality was the result in many commodities but at cheap prices. So mediocre that suppliers noted they were purchasing from China, throwing away over 50% of the received inventory (as being out of specification) and making more money than if they went with American suppliers.

Now we are back to speed is king. First to market.

And back to good enough is good enough.

Welcome Home America!

Is the Internet a waste of your money?

2010-06-22T09:47:00.002-04:00

First of all, I must ask for a disclaimer as I myself, on my web site, do not have the small snippet on my web site that I am going to discuss, but I am working on it and it will be there shortly.

The title of the blog is “Is the Internet a Waste of Your Money?”

Why should I suggest such a thing? Am I anti-Al Gore (the inventor of the Internet)? Am I anti commerce (let’s face it – billions and probably trillions are spent annually based on internet advertising, sales and information that lead customers in their buying decisions.

So WHY would I ever suggest that the Internet is a Waste of Your Money?

I have realized that many web sites are just ionformatin (I misspelled this and I thought that not using the information to find out how to spell information was rather humorous). Even most web sites that are oriented around corporations and companies and their offers for products and services are a waste.

For two reasons –

1. No offer. Not a compelling offer. Not a horrible offer. Just, plain and simple – NO OFFER. The only difference between these web sites and sending a prospect you stack of stuff (your company information) is that you save a few trees and the postage.

Does your web site even TRY to answer the one question that your prospect should have answered – Why Should I Buy From You?

2. No method to collect your client’s contact information. O.K. So I don’t have an offer or I have a dismal offer that even my mother (God rest her soul) wouldn’t buy from me when I am down to my last quarter. Then I go and insult mom further by not even asking her how to get back in touch with her at a future date.

That’s right. No auto responder.

I was in a discussion with a church body over the weekend. I mentioned they needed to install an auto responder to the web site so that visitors and prospects that came to the web site would leave their information to be contacted BECAUSE there was a compelling reason to give my personal information away.

And this, dear friends, is the reason why so much of the Internet is a Vast Wasteland.

Sounds like we have not evolved much since the 1950s . . .

Too much of a Good Thing?

2010-06-03T11:46:00.000-04:00

The other day I was shopping for something extremely easy to purchase and it took almost 20 minutes

The product was a men’s shower soap which also doubled as a shaving soap (as I sometimes like to shave in the shower). So I went to the local K-Wal.

I looked where the bar soaps were. Nothing.

I looked where the shampoos and conditioners were located. Out of probably 80 foot of shelving space, I didn’t find it.

I looked to where the other shower gels were. Not there either.

I finally found it in the aisle with the skin crèmes.

I spent almost 30 minutes seeking out this item. I was exasperated, frustrated and ready to go to the local drug store because I would be able to find it within 10-15 seconds of hitting their doorstep.

Is your business doing the same thing to your customers? Too many selections and not organized in a way that is user friendly?

In Ohio, there is a thriving grocery chain that is the bargain basement grocery chain in Germany. When you go shopping there, they only have a few selections of each. So the selections are easy, convenient and fast.

Studies have shown when a prospect is offered too many choices, they shut down and quit. Almost like myself after 20 minutes in the K-Wal.

Maybe like your customers after spending a little time in your business . . .

Want to improve sales immediately? Give the prospect no more than three alternatives and service them to death.

They’ll have more time for the activities they enjoy in life and thank you for giving them that time.

How much does it cost?

2010-05-31T12:59:00.000-04:00

This is a question for the non marketer in you.

The Question should be - what is my ROI?

In other words, I do not care what my cost is, but what my return on that cost is. Obviously, if the ROI is no better than something that is similar that is less of an investment, it would be better to spend less.

Along the same vein, should the ROI be marginally better than another, does the additional investment justify the additional cost.

Many business owners are so concerned about the price or cost of investment in their products, their services, their outsourced items, etc., but never think about the return on their spending.

In other words, what does a $500 ad cost? Obviously, the cost is $500.

But is the ROI $20, $500, or $2300?

The actual concern should be HOW do I get a better ROI? One of the best ways to start is to have a "starving crowd." In other words, if you were opening a new restaurant, would you like the best location, the best ingredients, the newest stoves and ovens, a highly trained staff? All those are wonderful to have, but unless you have a starving crowd who wants YOUR food and drink, those other wishes are meaningless.

So let's discuss ways to leverage the market so that you can have the starving crowd lining up outside your business.

In Your Service.

Force Multipliers

2010-05-21T19:07:00.002-04:00

Let’s talk about Iraq for a couple of minutes. Iraq 1990-1991. The Kuwait Invasion.

Now I am NOT going to talk politics, but the analogy of Iraq works well.

When the multi nation forces went to the Middle East to chase Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, they first sent in missiles from Navy ships. They also sent in the long range land missiles. The Navy sent in their fighter jets and the United States Air Force sent in their fighters and bombers.

All before one Marine (OORAH – sorry, that’s for my Marine son) sent a foot on Iraqi soil.

WHY?

Why not just send in the Marines? After all, they are the guys that invade and crash the party before any other ground forces arrive.

It’s because of a military strategy called a Force Multiplier. One cannot know the exact outcome of a single strategy, a single play, a single marketing campaign, so you have multiply strategies.

And you should do the same in your marketing.

In fact, the companies which work to build additional force multipliers on a consistent basis are the companies that are thriving. Organization sitting back and waiting and using their one strategy may not last through this downturn of the economy.

For years I have heard multiple sales trainers speaking of targeting using a rifle, not a shot gun. A shot gun approach does not bring in ANY big game, the rule goes.

But I learned something recently from a new mentor of mine. Yes, you want to target your prospects with a rifle type of precision, but you don’t use a sniper rifle (one bullet in the entire gun).

You target your prospects with a rifle that has a large clip on it – 10 strategies, 12, why not 25?

You may not bring home the sale with the first or the second strategy, but with 25 in your profit enhancement arsenal, the odds are in your favor that you will succeed – and profit!