Develop SMART Strategies That Build Success

As one year is behind us and another begun, small businesses find themselves hard at work in planning mode. Reviewing and analyzing successes and shortcomings of the previous year's goals and objectives are the basis for developing new strategy and advancing existing, incomplete ones.  Aim higher.  Incorporate SMART strategies into your small business strategic plan for the coming year. Did you achieve all of last year's strategic goals?   How SMART were the strategies you put in place for the coming year?   Were your desired results met? Are your strategies still valid for this year, or were there changes [...]

By |2017-01-10T02:10:43-05:00February 25th, 2014|Strategic Planning, Strategy|

Strategic Planning: 7 Reasons Your Small Business Plan Might Fail

  'Designing Strategies' Newsletter     November – December 2013                                 Volume 10 – Issue 56   This is the time of year when businesses of all sizes and types focus on developing strategies for the coming year. Year-end reviews take place to determine how successful - or unsuccessful - their strategic planning for the current year was. Analysis comes into play to identify which goals and objectives were successfully achieved, on budget and on schedule. Consideration is given to whether those goals and objectives provided desired results. It is time to determine what didn't work as expected.  Decisions are made about what [...]

By |2017-01-08T02:00:47-05:00November 15th, 2013|Newsletter, Strategic Planning, Strategy|

Give Your Company Recognition: Market For Unusual Holidays and Events

With Labor Day behind us, it occurred to me there won't be another holiday to celebrate until Thanksgiving rolls around at the end of November.  Nor will we have another regular holiday to tie into our marketing strategies for a couple of months.  Never fear!  There all kinds of official and unofficial recognitions, observations and celebrations scheduled for every month of the year.  Maybe it's time to give your company recognition. Types of Recognition and Observances Some 'special' days serve as reminders of health and wellness issues.  Others give a nod to some particular fruit or vegetable.  Yet others are just off the wall 'official anything [...]

By |2017-05-20T00:15:30-04:00September 3rd, 2013|Marketing, Strategy|

Harness the Power of You!

There is a new series of Planter peanut commercials on the air entitled 'Harness the Power of the Peanut'.  An updated Mr. Peanut, complete with a new background voice over artist, plays the starring role in each commercial.  I caught one this evening on TV showing Mr. Peanut as a motivational speaker.  That tiny little peanut-sized character stands in front of an audience of convention attendees.   In a style ala Tony Robbins and other big name motivational speakers, he touts the values of the peanut  - protein and nutrients.  The audience, eyes glazed over in rapt attention, nod their [...]

By |2020-11-11T17:37:39-05:00August 14th, 2013|Market Planning, Strategy|

Establish a Sales System Strategy For Your Small Business

There are a number of important elements to any business aspiring to success.  One of those elements is a good product or service.  But, no matter how wonderful your products or services might be, unless there is an audience who sees value in them, and is willing to purchase them, they are pretty much worthless. This is where establishing a sales system strategy comes into play.  Identifying target markets of people who will buy what you want to sell, then converting them into actual paying customers, may be the most important strategies you will face in developing a successful company. I found the [...]

By |2017-01-08T04:38:01-05:00July 9th, 2013|Sales, Strategy|

A Business Continuity Plan May Save Your Small Business

'Designing Strategies' Newsletter  March – April 2013                           Volume 10 --  Issue 52   For those paying attention, you probably noticed over the past several years, an increase in news of disasters.  We have been inundated by  news and weather reports of a growing number of natural disasters. You name the type - hurricanes, earthquakes, wild fires, tsunamis, typhoons, floods, mud slides, blizzards or drought. Regardless of your personal beliefs regarding global warming, climate change or natural cycles here on Earth, news coverage indicates that natural disasters have [...]

Customers – Separate the Wheat and Chaff

I was reading an article written by Jim Clinton, CEO at Gallup. The title of the article was: "America is Losing Jobs by Ignoring Its Best Trading Partners."   The article discussed how the we spend so much time focused on Russia, China and the Middle East, all of which are very small players in the GDP here in the United States. The article went on to say that Mexico and South America are much better friends to us and represent a much larger piece of our GDP and therefore, our economic situation. "So what?" you might ask. "What does that have to [...]

By |2016-12-27T21:16:05-05:00February 19th, 2013|Customer Relationships, Strategy|

8 Ways to Focus on Success in the New Year

'Designing Strategies' Newsletter January - February, 2013                       Volume 10 - Issue 51   Many small business owners continue pushing their rock uphill as the economy continues to be a very sluggish. In some regions, things are improving, in others they continue to drag. Lots of blips are on the radar screen as economic indicators are up one month and down another. It appears that the only one spending money is the government. Consumers continue to  hunker down and hold on to their money. Even the recent holiday shopping season was [...]

By |2017-01-08T01:47:39-05:00January 16th, 2013|Growth, Newsletter, Strategic Planning, Strategy|

Pricing Strategies for Service Businesses

'Designing Strategies' Newsletter November - December, 2012                                         Volume 9 - Issue 50 Negotiation to get the perfect pricing strategies for products and services can be challenging. This has never been more true than over the past several years. Potential customers try harder to squeeze the last drop of blood from the rocks we call our businesses. We want to be fair, but we also want our value recognized.  And, of course,  we all want to be fairly compensated for our efforts. [...]

By |2017-01-11T12:35:14-05:00November 16th, 2012|Newsletter, Pricing Strategy, Strategy|

Interview With an Industry Expert: Jeff Baldasarri – The Taylor Companie

'Designing Strategies' Newsletter September – October 2012                     Volume 9 -- Issue 49   Benjamin Fitch began making split bottom chairs at his cabin in the Ohio Western Reserve in 1816. As his early efforts paid off, his company grew and employees were added One of his workers, William O Taylor married Fitch’s daughter in the 1840s and too management. What resulted over seven generations became The Taylor Chair Company, The Taylor Desk Company, and ultimately The Taylor Companies. In March, 2012, Taylor celebrated 196 years in business. Three months later, [...]

By |2017-01-11T12:37:00-05:00September 15th, 2012|Leadership, Newsletter, Strategy|
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