Taking on More Than You can Handel

When you take on too much, your business can’t keep up and therefore you can easily lose control of everything and find yourself barely functioning. You want your business to be successful, no doubt, but you need to have a plan for how you will handle the growth. Your clients expect great customer service and highly quality products/services, they don’t know or care about your behind the scenes operations to get those things done.

·       Look for these signs that you are taking on more than you can handle:

·       Clients’ needs aren’t being met.

·       Employee morale is low, clients are upset and you’re in a panic.

·       You have to react in emergency mode to save accounts.

·       Your current clients are suffering from trying to keep up with new business.

·       Profits are going down.

·       You are just trying to pick up the pieces of your business.

·       Your clients/customers leave.

·       Resources are being reallocated.

There a trick called the Mock Fish Plan. This plan can help you react positively when you are facing some or all of these things and help you get your business back on track. This plan will:

·       Help increase sales in a short period of time.

·       Alter your products/services for the better.

·       Fulfill promises you made to your clients.

There are six steps to this plan:

1. Bring in your best team and have them all help to meet the fish needs.
2. Review your operational system.
3. Anticipate future problems better.
4. Communicate better.
5. Include costs in your quotes.
6. Always have a back-up plan.

All Your Eggs in One Basket

You can allow your company to become dependent on any one fish. Eventually or for certain periods there is going to be a slowing down period with your fish. In order to stay in the game you need to diversify.

If you’ve ever mishandled a fish, you could drive away potential fish as well. In order to keep balance and prepare for a strong future, there are a few things you can do.

·       These things include:

·       Stay in the loop and try to know what’s going on inside your fish company.

·       Constantly reinvent yourself and stay at the top of your industry.

·       Stay exclusive.

·       Try to secure multi-year commitments and contracts.

·       Spread your contracts out.

·       Price your products/services correctly.

You also need to work to reduce your dependency on your fish. This can generally be measures in sales or profits. Take a look back at the process we’ve used thus far to snag more fish to keep this all in balance.

These are the ways you can help avoid the killer mistakes that can make you lose it all.

How Did Starbucks Build A Multimillion Dollar Empire Using A Basic Commodity?

You can buy a cup of coffee at 7-11, Quik-Trip, Dunkin Donuts and even McDonalds. and buy it for $3.50 less than you can at Starbucks. So WHY are so many people Starbuck junkies?

Why is every airline bankrupt or nearing bankruptcy, and yet Southwest has made a profit every quarter but one since it started flying its planes in 1971? How did Apple come back from the dead and resurrect itself so it now sits at the top of the communications world?

What you need to know.

Starbuck's didn't just happen to get "lucky." This was a very carefully planned and crafted assault that was years in the making. In most cases, when you sell a basic commodity such as coffee, you're forcing yourself into a market that competes on nothing but price.

Well, that's what everyone else was indeed doing. 7-11, Quik-Trip, Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds were locked in battle to see who could offer the cheapest cup of coffee. In fact, most of them were providing it at cost as a way to entice customers to come in more frequently. They figured they could make up the lost profit with additional sales.

Starbucks looked at this and said "these guys are all fighting over who can offer a 50 cent cup of coffee. I wonder how we can get these same people to buy our coffee. and pay us $4 a cup in the process?"

Why you need to know this.

Obviously, they were successful. So how did they do it? In a word. "INNOVATION!"
If you want your business to grow and flourish, then you must stop competing on price. You have to find out specifically what your customers "want" from your business, and then innovate your business to not only give them what they want, but do so in a way that can only be described as "extraordinary."

Customers don't go to Starbucks to pay $4 for a cup of coffee. They pay $4 for the "experience" they enjoy at Starbucks. Starbucks innovated their stores to give their customers what they "wanted." Customers don't want to buy their coffee from a clerk. They want to buy it from a "barista." They don't want to buy coffee from a convenience store or a fast food restaurant. They want to buy their coffee from a specialty coffee establishment where the barista knows them by name and knows what they want to drink without them having to ask for it. In short. they want an "experience," and they're willing to pay $4 a cup to get it.

The cost to you if you fail to act.

* Do you know exactly how to find that "sweet spot" that your competition knows nothing about?
* Do you know how to use that "sweet spot" to instantly attract new clients whenever you want?
* Would you like to finally understand how to separate your business from all of your competition?
* Would you be interested in positioning your business for market dominance?

You can learn to do this for your business. IF you can discover specifically what your customers want. and create an experience that compliments what they want.
For more information, check out my new Marketing University, get as much information as you want and take a test drive on our system.To take a Test Drive on our system visit http://marketingandsalesuniversity.com/guidedtour

Kensel Tracy is the Marketing Coach and owner of Marketing and Sales University, a resource for small and medium sized businesses that want more information on marketing.

Canada is A Great Place to Open and Own a Business

This week’s article I thought I would talk about Canada and why it’s a great place to invest or to open up a business. With all the blood on the tracks in the great U.S. of A I thought I would brag a little about your neighbour to the north and discuss why Canada is doing well in spite of issues facing other countries throughout the world.
Here are the top 8 reasons why it makes sense to invest in Canada.
1. First of all Canada has a people advantage. Canada is a nation of intelligent, educated workers, ranking #2 in the OECD in higher education achievement.
2. The next is the business environment advantage: The Economic Intelligence Unit has rated Canada the #1 place to do business in the G7 for the next five years.
3. The economic advantage puts Canada as better placed than many countries to weather the global financial turbulence and worldwide recession
4. This one could be debatable since there are some better tax advantages in other countries. Canada however offers businesses low tax rates, boasting the lowest payroll taxes among the G7 countries.
5. The NAFTA Advantage advantage gives investors access to more than 450 million consumers and a combined GDP of US$ 17.1 trillion (PPP basis).
6. If you are considering doing business in Asia the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative (APGCI): takes advantage of Canada’s strategic location as the crossroads between the North American marketplace and the booming economies of Asia.
7. The transportation advantage gives Canada a sophisticated infrastructure and a highly developed transportation network.
8. Last of all the main reason we are all here in the first place is the life style advantage which gives Canada world-class universities, a universally acclaimed health care system, clean, friendly cities and spectacular scenery make Canada a great place to invest, work, live and raise a family.
There you have it, a simple and effective reason to invest in Canada. If you are thinking of opening a business, looking for good investment or want to move to stable democracy Canada for my money is the place to start hands down. Hope this helps you think about great places to live and invest.

Kensel Tracy is The Marketing Coach with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. a business coaching company located in Chelsea Quebec, and Ottawa Ontario. He is also the President of Business Over Breakfast Clubs opening up in every city throughout North America.

Mike Hughes “Canada’s Networking Guru” – Gives His Personal Opinion on Networking

As a blog writer, you always have your eyes and ears open for interesting networking stories that you can share. One such story comes from the Ottawa Networking Group on LinkedIn where Mike Hughes “Canada’s Official Networking Guru” hangs his hat. I first saw Mike’s networking handle when going through the members of the network to see if I could find a few friends of mine. I contacted Mike to see if he would be interested in giving me a story on who he was and how he became “Canada’s Networking Guru”. The rest was left up to Mike.

After a few emails back and forth about getting together for the story I got bogged down in making a living and then December rolled around, and Mike and I still had not been in contact. Then out of the blue, an email arrives with an important comment on an area that I should consider in regards to a new business concept I was launching in Ottawa and whose name was signed to that email; Mike Hughes “Canada’s Networking Guru”

Mike’s been in the networking game for the past 15 years. He got his impressive title from a newspaper article that ran a story on him and a writer that was so impressed with Mike, his programs and his approach to networking that he called him “Canada’s Networking Guru” and it stuck. He now uses this name to identify everything he does in the area of networking. It only takes a few minutes in conversation with Mike and you know you are talking with a special individual. His rapid delivery of who he is and why he got involved in networking convinces you early in the discussion that he is the real deal. He tells you about his impressive background as Past Chairman of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, his life as a professional speaker at international conferences and his view that “networking is a skill you develop” and “not something you do’ and you are engaged immediately. His social capital is worth receiving and it’s sprinkled with valuable information from the get-go.

“Networking” says Mike “is a business skill that most of us should learn and don’t”. Without catching a breath, he continues “networking should be a corporate required competency that everyone should learn whether they are in management, sales or owning a business” Now Mike’s on a roll. “Networking is about building a relationship on steroids, it’s not about selling yourself or your business but focusing in on building a solid relationship with others and you have about three minutes of conversation to build a meaningful relationship with others so you need to get it right from the start.”

He then goes on to tell me more about his “Networking for Results System” which includes some 40 hours of audio and written work and his ½ day and full day training sessions. Mike says that networking is all about context, communicating effectively and contributing to others. Mike is also a man in demand. He has been training businesses people, associations, government departments, and members of Chambers of Commerce across Canada and has spoken to groups all over North America on his “Networking for Results System’. Mike has me all fired up and I want to learn more. I hope you do too. This column is just the start. To get more information and valuable networking tips from Mike Hughes “Canada’s Networking Guru” check out his website at www.networkingforresults.com.


Kensel Tracy is the Marketing Coach and is a Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. (www.corporatecoachworkz.com) in Chelsea, Quebec. He is also launching Business over Breakfast Clubs (BoB Clubs) business and breakfast referral networking clubs in all cities across North America.