5% increase = 220,000 jobs in America

"Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking,"What's in it for me?"
-- Brian Tracy, Author

An increase of only 5% in "Made in America" materials used by contractors to build homes in the US would produce 220,000 new manufacturing jobs overnight.

The belief is that we don't have manufacturers that can make everything needed to build a home, and if we did, the cost would be much higher.

• Fact: Cost increase of only 1% in materials.
• Fact: Better materials increase productivity and quality.
• Fact: You can get everything you need here in the US.

Have you ever thought about how to build a list of the American manufacturers that could supply your company and others like it?

Watch this short segment from ABC News, it is very interesting.

All the best,
Rick W. Wallace

Perserverance

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"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins, not through strength but by perseverance."
-- H. Jackson Brown, Author



Perseverance, or what I call follow through, is the key ingredient to the success of people and businesses and is lacking in most of the companies I have worked for, or with, over the last 35 years.

It trumps all the issues that hold businesses and their employees back. Money, Time and People are issues that we have solutions for, but tend to start and stop in our attempt to get them implemented.

It is all about habits, clarity, focus, and execution, and a process and rhythm to ensure we follow through and implement the solutions. In short, it is about adopting some new habits.

We tend to develop bad habits that have us reacting all day long. This gets in the way of leading and making the changes necessary to building a profitable, successful business that works for the owner/leader vs. one that relies on her to work.

Albert Einstein, "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."
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All the best,
Rick W. Wallace

Cash Flow - #1 Pain for Small Business Today

Do you have something in common with your fellow business owners? Are more and more people slow paying you?

Recently I conducted a survey of dealer/distributors around North America and for the first time Cash Flow was mentioned by the majority as one of their top 3 concerns.
The slow economy over the last few years is starting to take its toll. More and more owners cite slow paying customers as a growing problem.

What can you do about it? You see there are really 6 Levers in your business that effect Cash Flow. Looking at A/R only is only 1/6 of the problem. While we all can't be financial wizards, we need to gain a basic understanding of what we are dealing with and the actions we can take to manage this issue.

As with anything, we have to have a way to measure the variables (the 6 Levers) before we can even talk about managing them. Once we are measuring the right things, we have to set some targets or goals to improve them. This does not mean we have to be financial wizards or "numbers" people, we just need a grasp of the "Levers" that effect Cash Flow and a couple of simple formulas to measure how we are doing and where we want to go.

The numbers you need are on your balance sheet and financial statements. If you don't want to do it yourself ask your accountant to provide these numbers to you each week or month.

I have written a Free Guide - "Cash Flow : How Disney, Ford and Trump all went Bankrupt - A Simple Guide to Improving Your Cash Flow"

Here's an excerpt:

"As Michael Gerber says, "I remind my clients that Donald Trump, Henry Ford and Walt Disney all went bankrupt, even though their enterprises were earning income, because they ran out of cash! Most businesses without cash flow forecasting in place do not survive, while nearly all businesses with cash flow forecasting in place do."

Of course you know that cash is the fuel for your company. Like a $70,000 BMW, you can have a fast growing, profitable company and if you can't generate enough cash (fuel) for your tank you can find yourself sitting on the side of the road, out of gas.

The main quantitative measure of a business' success is not profitability (the excess of revenue over expense), it is the excess of cash flowing into the business over the cash flowing out. It is quite possible, and even common, for businesses to be profitable but be cash flow disasters.

Growth takes cash and lots of growth takes lots of cash. It is a sad fact that the majority of failing firms are profitable as they enter bankruptcy. No gas, no go."

It's yours free by simply clicking here.

Referrals- It is not about the money

Intuitively, one may think that rewarding customers or other business owners to refer you or your company would be very successful. However, rewarding customers or small business owners for their recommendations is not an effective strategy.

New ECSB research shows that only 12% of owners expect to receive compensation for their efforts. Of course, owners would gladly take your money, but the majority (57%) don’t expect compensation. So, at a minimum, you are wasting money.

Worse, paying for a referral diminishes its impact. Their study shows that if owners believe another owner stands to benefit, its credibility is jeopardized. For example, the likelihood of a referee following a "paid" recommendation drops like a stone – a negative impact of 4.3 times compared to a "genuine" recommendation. This is now like "shooting yourself in both feet." Rather, we need to take a step back and understand what drives owners to advocate for your products or services. The critical insight is that owners recommend you more so because of their relationships with their peers, and less so because of their relationship with you.
While owners do need to be satisfied with you, what ultimately drives them to recommend is if they believe your product or service will help their peers. What ultimately drives them NOT to recommend is the fear of giving bad advice to their fellow owners. Small business advocacy is about them, not about you.
So, make sure you have a documented Formal Referral Program that clearly states what you do and don’t do with referrals. What you would like the referrer to do? Provide something of value that the referrer can "give" to the referee to make the effort easier for them to approach an associate and make them feel good (remember it is about them) about making the referral. This could be a free consultation over lunch, something of value that allows you to show how you will serve this referee in the future.
Then remember to follow up several times with the referrer to keep them in loop and reinforce how good it feels to help out their referee/friend/associate. This Program means a lot more to someone than a car wash ticket or $50. It is ok to show your appreciation after the fact, but that should be an afterthought and unexpected.
For more on the Formal Referral Program watch this short recorded webinar:

http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/323397/Trust---The-Formal-Referral-Program--recorded

All the best,
Rick Wallace
And

Doers vs Feelers

This is from my coach Steve Chandler and says it all about committment and time management:

"One of our club members recently asked me to repeat what I'd said a long time ago about the difference between doers and feelers. He said it changed the way he lived his life. So I'll say it again. Professional people fall into two categories. There are doers and there are feelers. Doers do what needs to be done to reach a goal that they themselves have set. They come to work having planned out what needs to be done. Feelers, on the other hand, do what they feel like doing. Feelers take their emotional temperature throughout the day, checking in on themselves, figuring out what they feel like doing right now. Their lives, their outcomes, their financial security are all dictated by the fluctuation of their feelings. Their feelings will change constantly, of course, so it's hard for a Feeler to follow anything through to a successful conclusion. Feelings are changed by many things........biorhythms, gastric upset, too strong a cup of coffee, an annoying call from home, a rude waitress at lunch, a cold, a bit of constipation. Those are the dictating forces, the commanders, of a Feeler's life. A Doer already knows in advance how much time will be spent on the phone, how much in the field, what clients will be cultivated today, what relationships will be strengthened, what communications need to be made. A Doer uses a three-step system to guaranteed success: 1) They figure out what they want to achieve. 2) They figure out what needs to be done to achieve it. And, 3) They just do it. This is not a theory, this is the actual measured and observed system used by all super achievers without fail. Whether you are a Doer or a Feeler has nothing to do with your character or personality. It has everything to do with choice. Choice is the key to it. You can choose either one, at any time, in any situation. So today, as you are challenged by situations, be sure to ask yourself, "What can I do about this?" instead of "How do I feel about this?" You'll be very pleased with the day you have."

68% Small Business Owners Are Using Mobile Devices

Smart phones, tablets, etc. are being used by more and more people. And not only by young consumers, but business people to search the web and read their email. A recent survey of 1,021 Small Business Owners about their use of tablets shows that smart phones have become even more popular, especially for email. 68% of small bsuinesss owners use theirs to search the web and 58% use them to search vendor's websites.

If you are sending information out to your customers, making special offers, etc. via email with links back to your website or sign up pages or if you are starting to use QR codes on your business cards and printed materials, make sure the landing page you are using is mobile optimized.

What does that mean? Simply someone on their smart phone can actually read it and use it in format that is conducive to their device.

Want to know how? Read this short piece from William Joseph, Search and Rank here in town. Notice how it works on your phone or your PC and William can do this for you.

Rick Wallace
All the best,

Success = Hire Sunny-Fire Gloomy

Tom Peters recently pulled from his archives his rules for ensuring business success. It is so simple yet it works and it works every time, regardless of the business.

From Tom Peters:

The Way for your team to Succeed:
HIRE SUNNY! FIRE GLOOMY!
Hire/Promote those with....Sunny Dispositions.
Fire those with perpetually...Gloomy Dispositions.
(Hint: The farther up the Organization you go, the more important this gets.)
(Rule: Leaders are not permitted to have "bad days"....especially on Bad Days!)
(Rule: One Sad Dog can infect a group of 100.)
(Rule: One Energetic, Optimistic, Sunny Soul can motivate an army to move a mountain.)

Make sure you include this in all your job descriptions and screening scripts.

I would be interested in your rules? Please comment