Profitability Channel

Give the gift of unique note cards to any business professional and you are giving them the opportunity to establish a memorable reputation.

Handwritten notes create a memorable connection between sender and recipient. A gift of note cards featuring unique art and motivational quotes allows the recipient of your gift to connect personally with individuals to whom they write notes.

Is there a sales professional on your gift list? A regular practice of handwriting notes could make 2009 their best year ever. Joe Girard, The Guinness World’s Record Greatest Retail Salesman for 12 years, received that title after selling an average of 6 cars everyday throughout his selling career. This was due in part to his stay-in-touch practice of sending all previous car customers 13 personal note cards each year – turning them into repeat buyers and sources of regular referrals.

How about a C-Level executive? Doug Conant, CEO of Campbell’s Soup has written over 16,000 notes, as many as 10 a day, raising morale and energizing Campbell’s in the process. "In business we're trained to find things that are wrong, but I try to celebrate what's right," says Conant.

What about a gift for you? Build your own personal brand through the regular practice of handwriting notes to clients to show appreciation, to referral contacts to say thank you and to leaders to show your support. Establish your own memorable reputation through the personal connection created by handwriting notes.

The gift of unique note cards is the first step to note-working success!

Vanessa Lowry is Chief Connection Officer and owner of Profits in Progress, helping businesses expand connections and build relationships using handwritten notes. She can be contacted at vlowry@profitsinprogress.com or 678-521-8820. Purchase unique note cards at www.ProfitsinProgress.com.

With an estimated $12.7 billion given to charities in 2006 by US corporations and corporate foundations (Giving USA, 2007) and continued struggles for bottom line growth, more and more CEOs and marketing executives look with critical eyes at the return on their investment in charitable causes. Unprecedented market pressures around “going green” and reduced carbon footprints are also feeding and transforming the once predictable landscape of corporate social responsibility.

There are tremendous advantages to companies and nonprofits as these shifts occur, but the conversation is shifting and evolving. Those who can lead exploratory dialogs from a business rather than beneficiary perspective can create greater outcomes against an array of marketing and business issues whether you reside in the profit or the nonprofit sector.

Cynthia Currence creates a highly interactive session drawing on participant insights and her 30 years of experience in nonprofit marketing.

Key areas covered:
• Rethinking strategic alliances between profit and nonprofit companies…both are businesses
with assets that, when leveraged in the right corporate match, create powerful results for all
parties.

• Exploration of key benefits which shift the discussion to include business opportunities with
bottom line results including cost reductions, increases in revenue and increased mission
results from strategic alliances.

• Assessment to create a structure for building or refreshing alliance criteria in order to select
your best matches with the best contractual agreement for your business needs.

• Understanding of the risks and regulations of strategic alliances with companies.

• Ethical boundaries.

• Advice and tips on negotiating.

From the desk of Karla Brandau, CSP,
Time Management and Microsoft Outlook Expert

Is your organization fighting low morale and financially hard times because of the economic crisis in American and around the world?

Fight back!
You may have to tighten your belt, but refuse to be emotionally and mentally sabotaged by doom and gloom. Yes, these are hard times. Yes, there are still hard times ahead. We will live through 2008 and we will be better because of the experience.

Be proactive!
Increasing the efficiency of your workforce is one easy way to increase productivity during tough economic times when sales are slipping.

To help you increase the efficiency of your employees in these tough times, in collaboration with On the Ribbon, I am offering an excellent tool to teach employees tried and true time management principles AND how to implement those principles in Microsoft Outlook. This is a proven remedy for sluggish performance. For more information, click here www.timeforresults.com.

Be tough!
Overcome the fear that everything in the world will collapse. Fearful people are frozen in place and they don't act. Tough people see and seize opportunities. Seize this opportunity to improve your productivity and the productivity of your employees. The added value is increased return on your investment of the Microsoft Outlook software.

Could you use five extra weeks per year to move your business forward and finish your to-do list? That is entirely possible if you sign up for the time and technology program, It’s Time For Results, hosted right here at On The Ribbon. It’s Time For Results is a program that infuses time management techniques into Microsoft Outlook. One manager who recently went through the program said that just one technique he learned would save him four hours a week. That is 208 hours in a year or five weeks of time every year.

Most people use Microsoft Outlook merely for e-mail and an occasional meeting or appointment. To find five extra weeks of time per year, this manager tapped into the power of Tasks and the prioritizing principles I teach. Outlook Tasks permit you to configure several views including a master task view, a completed tasks view, and a daily task view, enabling you to customize your tasks for your personality and your workload and effectively giving you more time every day.

Some individuals try to work from a running list of tasks. I would recommend keeping a master task list and then from that list, make a daily task list comprised of exactly what you think you can get done today…given of course all of the interruptions and “Please, I need this now” tasks that are thrown at you.

If you are a time-crunched professional, you find out more about the Time For Results program by going to www.timeforresults.com.

Hello everyone,

Peg Titus-Hall here. I’m the new host for LIVE, on-line broadcasts of Tap Your Potential, Tuesday, September 9, at 10 a.m. I’m really excited about this new and amazing venture. It will be a true pleasure interviewing interesting experts who know how to deal with the personal side of small business ownership.

My first guest, Dr. Kimberly Jackson, is a phenomenon in the business arena. At 27, she was an executive vice president of a major corporation. After continuing her stellar work history, she ultimately has become a much-sought-after executive and small business coach.

Coach Kimberly has some remarkable tips for you and your business on the topic on “How to Stay Focused on What Earns You Money!” She’ll also discuss her exciting new books and programs scheduled for release in the next few months. I hope you’ll watch.

“See” y’all Tuesday, September 9, at 10 a.m.—where you can dig deep and tap your potential!

Warm regards, Peg

Do your people frequently have three people waiting to see the, ten telephone messages, fifty e-mails, and twenty IM’s waiting for them in any given hour? Add the need for critical decisions on top priority projects and you get the recipe for a frazzled work day and the need to help your employees “make” time.

Time For Results is a revolutionary new product that helps employees make time. It infuses time management principles into the technology tool of Microsoft Outlook, bringing increased productivity which means more dollars at your discretion for organizational needs.

In a recent Time For Results program, an engineer was ecstatic that the techniques taught would save him at least 4 hours a week. Another attendee, a president of a large contracting firm and an avid Blackberry and Outlook user, stated that the Time For Results program would save him 3-5 hours a week as well. He wanted everyone in his company to have the training.
With the Time For Results program, everyone can find more time.

Compute the benefits: A person who is paid $55,000.00 a year plus benefits, makes about $37.00 an hour. If that person gains just 4 hours a week, as people who have gone through the program testify, that person has given the company a gift of $148.00 worth of more productivity per week. That is a gift of $592.00 per month and $7,104 per year.

By training just 12 people from your organization in the Time For Results program, you have a potential productivity gain of $85,248.00. Would your bottom line like that kind of productivity gain from just 12 people? If so, check out our product at www.TimeForResults.com. The streaming video is hosted right here at The Profitability Channel.

My guest this evening, Jeff Burrows, will be amazing. How do I know this? I just sat, glued to my chair, scrambling to take notes, through a breakfast presentation that Jeff delivered. Not only did Jeff give me food for thought, he gave practical ideas and concepts that I can implement today.

Tonight at 7 PM you have the opportunity to learn from Jeff’s 20+ years of experience working with thousands of small business owners and managers like you. He’ll show you how you can triple your closing rate (no kidding – he’s done it and helped others do it too).

Here’s how to participate in this free program:
At 7 PM Eastern time go to www.profitabilitychannel.com
Click on the Channel Calendar
On the August 19th date, click on Jeff Burrow’s program – 5 Ways to REALLY Increase Sales.

If you miss it live, you can watch it from the library:
Go to www.profitabilitychannel.com
Click on the Library
Click on Jeff Burrow’s Program – 5 Ways to REALLY Increase Sales

See you tonight!

Thanks and have a great day.

I’ve previously talked about making and keeping commitments.
Today we’ll talk about creating a vision for your life.
A vision is more than a list of goals. But goals are where you start.
National championship coach Lou Holtz is a good example.
Early in his career, Lou made a list of more than 100 life goals.
At last count, Lou was closing in on the last dozen.
These include rafting the Snake River through Hell’s Canyon.
Jumping out of an airplane — with a parachute, of course.
Appearing on national TV. Winning a national championship.
Mine include reading the Great Books of the Western World.
Circling the globe. Speaking fluent Italian and Spanish.
Resuming our study of the organ. Writing two dozen more books.
Collecting local recipes we love from exotic places we visit.
Selling 20 million books. Raising $200 million for literacy.
Here’s my challenge to you: Start your list. Make it a long one.
Make it so long you cannot afford to die before at least age 150.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about how those goals lead to your vision.
Special note: Ruth King will interview me Friday at 10 a.m.

We’ll talk about my new "Terminate Your Profit Killers" book.

To watch the show, go to www.ProfitabilityChannel.com

For more about Jerry Bellune: jerry@jerrybellune.com

By Barbara Giamanco

You've been there. At a networking function someone asks you what your company does, and you freeze like a deer in the headlights. You haven't thought it through so what might roll off your tongue is a lengthy speech that says absolutely nothing. Worse yet, you might default to spitting out a feature/benefit dump that also does nothing, except perhaps turn off your potential client! Later, you cringe at the memory and beat yourself up for not doing better.

Learn to tell your story.

The art of great storytelling has existed for thousands of years and recently it's been gaining in popularity in the business world. In "Made to Stick" , authors Chip and Dan Heath talk about creating stories and messages that are "sticky". There is a lot of competition for the average person's attention these days, so what you do must stand out.

Mike Wittenstein of "Storyminers" takes the concept of a unique selling proposition and recommends presenting what you offer as a story. The best experiences we have are when we are hooked by the story, he says. It's that way for your customers and prospects also.
It starts with understanding your uniqueness, the value of what YOU offer to others. Here are 3 tips for building a strong unique selling proposition:

Know why people buy the type of product or service you offer

Surprisingly a lot of people just don't think this through. You may be one of them. Remember, a great USP showcases your uniqueness and tells people what's in it for them if they buy from you. It focuses on results, not on product features or business processes.

You've got to do your homework! Do some digging to really uncover what's different about you and what you have to offer. Do you know how people describe you to others? What do you want to be known for? What do your current clients like about working with you? Why do people buy what you have to offer? Why will they choose you over some other company? Dig for the answers and you might be surprised by what you discover!

Mine the gaps between your business and your competition

Unless you make a widget that no one else makes, you HAVE competition. To know your competition, you've got to study them. Check out their website. Study their ads. Find out how they promote themselves. Look for things you offer that they do not. Find out why people buy from them. Ask a prospect who may be using a service similar to what you offer, what they wish their current provider would offer. Use every opportunity to gather information by asking questions. When you understand the gap, creating your USP becomes much easier.

Fill the void

In every industry there is a business need going unresolved. You have to discover what that is and meet the need or "fix the pain", as professional coaches and trainers say. The void for your prospects may be caused by lack of time, competing priorities, lack of balance in their lives or a myriad of other issues. Whatever it is, find that void and then talk about how your product or service fills the gap. Read blogs, ask your clients what challenges they face or what they believe are the obstacles down the road, watch for trends in business publications, look at what isn't being offered, but whatever you do, be sure to conduct thoroughresearch before assuming that what you plan to offer is something people want.

Regardless of who you are - CEO, Coach, Consultant, Sales Professional - you have products and services that you need to tell people about in ways that engage them and entice them to buy from you. Remember that being able to tell your story -- to articulate your unique sales proposition quickly, effortlessly and with conviction will help you sell more, more often!

Talent Builders CEO, Barbara Giamanco capped a corporate sales career at Microsoft, where she led and trained sales teams and coached sales executives, before establishing Talent Builders, Inc. in 2002. She has more than 25 years of experience in selling to enterprise, mid-market and retail accounts and knows what it’s like to walk in the shoes of the sales person. During her career, her accounts have included American Express, Motorola, Best Buy, Circuit City, Anheuser-Busch, Target, Honeywell and the State of Arizona. Visit www.talentbuildersinc.com

In today’s economy everyone is looking for better, less expensive ways to do everything. This fact holds true for both consumers as well as business owners. Increased fuel prices are raising manufacturing costs, delivery costs, and if a business owner relies heavily on their customer coming to them… well you guessed it, the cost for the commute has increased as well and there seems to be no end in sight. So the question is how will businesses survive? On the Internet and that means an online presence.

But wait, what if you are a small- to mid-size business… how do you compete with you’re larger competitor who possibly has been in business longer and has a larger budget to develop their infrastructure? It’s not just a website… today, businesses cannot survive with a simple website only; they need a full online business solution system. And with the rapid changing in technology, competition in web development is keen; so how can web developers compete with each other in convenience, pricing, and other benefits so it becomes a win, win, win situation for the small- to mid-size business owner, their customers, and the developers?... by leveraging technology with the help of B&C Enterprise and GrowOnlineNow.com.

Tune in to understand the importance of leveraging… not just by the business owner, but developers as well. It is said that if a business is not on the internet today, they will be out of business tomorrow so there is even a greater need for an online presence. Small- and mid-size businesses need help, small web developers need help, and B&C Enterprise and GrowOnlineNow.com is there to provide a solution for both with a way in leveraging technology like so few other companies have been able to achieve.