CT Business Owners Face the Economy
Economic Development Outlook is all about Attitude. Sometimes Business Owners Feel so Alone.
The economic outlook for 2010?
Cloudy with no chance of recovery if you recently attended any of the Economic development seminars in Fairfield County, as I did.
As the Business Development Manager for ActionCOACH of Westport I had the opportunity to attend the CBIA (www.cbia.com) Annual Fairfield County Commercial Real Estate & Economic Development Breakfast on January 6th at UCONN in Stamford and the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook Luncheon on January 7th in Norwalk.
Both seminars had excellent speakers but what they reported was extremely ominous. The consistent message was that the recovery was going to be very slow and that we all need to make adjustments in our savings and spending habits. What about an attitude adjustment?
As Patrick Farrell, VP of Employee Benefits at USI said when he was interviewed by a business reporter from the Stamford Advocate after the Norwalk chamber event:
“I try to be an optimist. We have to remember, we got into this due to a lack of personal responsibility.”
See Business Section A page 9 www.stamfordadvocate.com for the full article.
At ActionCOACH one of Brad Sugars core teachings is about personal responsibility, never play “below the line.” Do not blame others or wish that you had a better job. Instead work on doing your job better and be in charge of your own attitude.
It reminded me of the old quote from Charles Swindoll. I learned this over 20 years ago at my first sales job from my General Manager at Scholastic Book Fairs. His name was Merrick Burkhardt; he was my first mentor, my first coach. As we approach some challenging times, I thought it would be worth sharing.
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.”
If you are Fairfield County Business Owner who feels like the recession reporting and the economic downturn is keeping you up at night, then call me at 203 210 7003 for a complimentary attitude adjustment session.
At ActionCOACH we specialize in helping business owners look at things with a new perspective. Sometimes when you feel so alone, it’s because you can’t do it alone. Let a business coach help.
Written by Business Developement Manager, Geri Sutton, pictured here with her husband Jim.
7 Tips to Make More MONEY in 2010
Filed under: Building Your Customer Base, Business Development, Business Marketing, business advice
I had the pleasure of presenting to 40 business people at the Westport Wilton Chamber of Commerce Business Before Hours this morning. It was a great event! Many thanks to Lisa Thygerson, the Executive Director of the Chamber and her fantastic team; and to the Executive Director of the Westport Arts Center, Nancy Heller, who hosted the event. If you’ve never had the pleasure of visiting the Arts Center at 55 Riverside Avenue …. you need to get there. It will be a fantastic cultural experience for you.
During the event, I shared the following low cost, fundamental tips with the group to help them to grow their profits this year ….
1. Determine and write down your specific 2010 profit goal — the actual # – look at the goal every day to keep it always on your mind.
2. Know Your Numbers– not only your monhtly financials; but also your Key Performance Indicators – these will vary from business to business but here are a few that whould apply to your business = # of leads per week; conversion rate from prospect to sale; average dollar sale; profit margin; client retention; etc …
3. Write a Description of Your Perfect Customer and focus your marketing efforts of those that fit the description. This will reduce your marketing costs and time and increase your conversion rates
4. Establish and Follow a Consistent Sales Process. From the point when you meet a prospect through the point where you close the deal take the same steps with everyone. Only in this way will you be able to measure what’s working and what’s not.
5. Sell on Value; not on Price. If you focus on price you’ll get what you deserve because the prospect will then also focus on price. So focus on the value you bring and what you can bring to your prospect that your competition can’t.
6. Focus Your Marketing Efforts on Your Existing Customer Database. It’ll cost you less time and less money to close them into additional business because they already know you and your company. There’s gold in your database … focus on it.
7. ASK, ASK, ASK. Ask your clients for referrals. Ask your customers testimonials. And most of all ask your prospects for the business.
To build on these ideas and strategies come to our next interactive profit building workshop to be sponsored by CitiBank at their Westport Office on January 27th at 5:00. You can go to our ActionCOACH website at www.actioncoachnow.com to learn more and to register for this educational event.
Please post your comments below on the Business Before Hours Event …. also, feel free to share your ideas on how to grow your profits in 2010!
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