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| TAB Fort Worth Anniversaries |
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March/April Anniv.
John Brancato - 501
Jennifer Carter - 401
David Diesslin - at Large
Mark Flavin - 402
Chad Horany - 501
Earl Kirkpatrick - 401
Jon Pastusek - 401
Shelley Plemons - at Large
Lee Rogers - 401
Amber Stilwell-Fergason 402
David Walsh - 401
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| Hear How We Help Our Members |
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| Event Details |
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Attend Business Bites Lunch 'N Learn -
3/3/2010
Please plan to join us for "When will this Crisis end is the Wrong Question!" on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, at 11:45 AM at the offices of Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, LLP, 777 Main Street, Suite 3800, Fort Worth, TX 76102.
Presented by Tom Pryor, Director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for Enterprise Excellence and growth coach for the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC).
Guessing when the current economic crisis will end is not a good strategy. Instead, business leaders should ask "How will this crisis change the way we do business going forward?"
Tom Pryor believes questions are often more important than answers. Consultants rarely have all the answers, but great consultants ask great questions.
Tom will give you a proactive list of simple questions and activities to improve your business in 2010 and beyond.
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Watch for Upcoming Events
3/12 & 3/13 - Chocolate & Arts Festival, Grapevine, TX - benefiting Travelers Aid,
4/7 - "Double or Nothing (in 3 years your business can Double in value or it can be worth Nothing)" - Fred Herbert
4/30 - TAB DFW Workshop - details at a later date
5/5 - "OPPORTUNITY Unstuck! Unlock Your Right Time, Right Place, and Right Opportunity" - Tom Sheives
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| Schedule a TAB Speaker for your Organization |
| The Alternative Board (TAB) of Fort Worth possesses a Speakers Bureau comprised of individuals from various companies and industries. The range of topics is varied (finance, the environment, new technologies - such as LinkedIn business network, ethics, energy efficiency, and small business management, to name a few).
Click here for a list of topics.
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| Connect with LinkedIn |
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LinkedIn Classes
3/12 Profiles Plus
3/19 Sales & Marketing
3/26 Advanced Sales & Marketing
Register here.
Click here - Integrated Alliances LinkedIn training and Social Media strategy
Read LinkedIn Testimonials
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| TAB in The News |
For a full listing of press hits, please visit our In the News page. |
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| Now Available: Click on the above book cover to order your copy of The Wall Street Journal business book best-seller the 9 Elements of Family Business Success by Allen E. Fishman, Founder and Chairman of The Alternative Board®. |
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TAB Fort Worth Business Bites Lunch 'N Learn When will this Crisis end is the Wrong Question! |
5 Seats Left - Register by Monday 3/1
Please plan to join us on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, at 11:45 AM at the offices of Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, LLP.
Our speaker is Tom Pryor, Director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for Enterprise Excellence and growth coach for the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC). Register Here. / More details. / Free parking & lunch provided |
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Is It Time to Review Your Website? |
Recently someone pointed out that our website failed to provide a form to supply measurements for ordering one of our most common products. And they spotted an omission on one of our supplier's sites--it neglected to mention the company's address!
As a result, we decided to undertake a thorough review of our website and have found even more required changes. I recommend that you do the same...and, perhaps, ask your fellow TAB Board Members to assist you.
Rick Mand, Integrity Saw & Tool, Fond du Lac, WI
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Member Highlight Venturing Outside Your Four Walls
Richard Minker, CEO, MINKERTRAHANT & Associates |
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 As an entrepreneurial business owner looking for ways to grow one's business, The Alternative Board (TAB) provides resources that Richard Minker could not find otherwise. "First it allows us to venture outside our four walls as we seek ways to enhance client services, marketing exposure and operational changes to allow us to reach a goal of being the "Best in Class," according to Richard.
TAB is a venue for Richard to develop both personal relationships, as well as potential business relationships through earned trust. Through TAB, members have an objective of helping to keep each other accountable for pre-established monthly goals.
Most importantly, Richard's TAB facilitator, Ed Riefenstahl, has become a most valuable resource in developing techniques and skills to compete with major competitors and succeed in the company's efforts. Richard states "a
s a result of TAB, we have developed a renewed focus through the development of a true company business plan, as well as individual broker business plans and a company budget. Not only do we have a total focus in moving forward but we are also held accountable by our TAB facilitator and fellow TAB Board members."
MINKERTRAHANT & Associates provides unsurpassed commercial real estate services with specialization in Office and Industrial Tenant Representation, Project Leasing and Brokerage services. In addition through their affiliation with the Argus Self Storage Sales Network, MINKERTRAHANT & Associates is one of the premier self storage brokerage firms in North Texas. The firm will also offer brokerage services on a selected basis in the area of land sales and retail.
"Over the past several years, MINKERTRAHANT has provided me and my former company with outstanding insights into the commercial real estate market in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area. Your representation of us in the sale of our commercial holdings allowed us to recapture valuable cash flow at a critical time in our growth.
I especially appreciate the level of personal service and integrity that you bring to every transaction.
In my new role as Partner at Kasper & Associates, Fort Worth's oldest M&A firm, it is critical that the service providers I recommend to our Clients be both capable and trustworthy."
- Tony Ford,
Senior Associate,
Kasper & Associates
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Q/A The Workplace Doctor™
We Get What We Tolerate, Enable and Reinforce |
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Do you find that responses to requests are received late, not at all, require repeated reminders, or come with excuses? Consider the options to accept, avoid or confront.
Option 1- Accept?
This option wastes time, efficiency, and innovation, erodes results and reputations and is 100% preventable. When a member habitually doesn't respond and others complete the request, enabling takes root. Tradeoffs can be equally dysfunctional.
Option 2 - Avoid?
Just do your job, wish, stuff and repeat? How's that working?
Option 3 - Confront (It's not a question)
Choose option
3, and take the first step. Second, clarify specific impact, consequences and standards. Third, since option 3 is the only viable option, muster the willingness and the initiative to learn how to assertively, effectively and appropriately engage in essential win-win conversations. Fourth, follow-up and reinforce.
We get what we tolerate, enable and reinforce.
Copyright 2009, Dr. Connie Sitterly, "The Workplace Doctor™" President, Sittcom, Inc., Management Training Specialists. Connie is an international speaker, trainer, executive coach, author, management consultant. You may reach her by phone 817.737.2893 , Connie's email / Visit Connie's website |
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Offer Free Advice |
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Twice a year I send a direct mail postcard to current customers and prospects as a reminder to bring their boat in for servicing. The Spring card reminds them to have their boat prepped before the summer launch while the Fall card focuses on winterizing. Recently, I began adding a short boat maintenance tip to help my postcard stick-out and to differentiate myself as the local boating expert as well.
Responses thus far suggest that my free advice is working. In time I hope customers will begin to anticipate the arrival of my next postcard and another free tip.
James Merten Jr., Merten Marine Ltd., Oshkosh, WI
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Don't Confuse Customer Service with Concessions |
Managers often confuse issuing a credit or refunding a portion of the purchase price with providing good customer service. In reality, issuing a credit or giving a refund is NOT providing good customer service. It may temporarily alleviate an issue or conflict with a customer, but offers no long term benefit. In fact, it may be detrimental to the company by "training customers that a complaint equals a refund."
Companies should focus on fixing the cause of the problem to prevent future occurrences. If a refund or credit is warranted they should always attempt to get something from the customer in return. For example, instead of issuing a credit for past services, give the customer a discount on future business.
Randy Weissman, Storage Banc, Saint Louis, MO |
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Financial Preparing for your Future |
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A reporter was inquiring what you should do if you think "bubbles" are going to be more constant; i.e. volatility is going to increase in the markets. "Should you buy more annuities, etc.?"
The real question is not this, but rather what should you do to prepare for your future and then make sure you have your investments in sync with your tolerance risk from both a rational and psychological perspective.
Economically, what do you and your family have as a goal and how are you going to get there - that is the driver.
All businesses, ideally, want to maximize the returns in their company without taking "a risk" that would put the company "at risk." People would do well to think like this. T
he longer term you think, the better you can make choices about entry points and exit points for investing.
Does the portfolio fit with your personal needs; can you sleep at night; and remember there will be a "better deal" tomorrow, or another one equally as good sometime in the future? Think long-term and make sure your short-term decisions are in line with your long-term goals.
Best regards,
David H. Diesslin, MBA, CFP® Diesslin & Associates, Inc. |
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CRM - Making a Difference in Your Business |
I recently rolled out an online based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. The initial purpose was to track inbound emails from customers, however, the more I work with the tool the more uses I see for it. Now I look at it as a potential for monitoring accountability, key performance indicators and tracking for turning around customer issues. If your organization doesn't have a CRM tool, I highly recommend that you investigate them. It has only been a few weeks since I implemented the tool and I am already seeing results from it.
Michael Herring, Best Skins Ever, Arvada, CO |
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Expectations |
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When hiring a new employee, besides preparing a job description signoff, hand them a list of "20 things we expect from you each and every day". This ought to include items like "have a good, positive attitude" and "be on time." Then have the president and the new employee sign it. You'll be surprised by the impact it has on an employee's performance.
Craig Noto, SA Quality Fence, San Antonio, TX
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Touted as the most valuable and beneficial business advisory organization in the world, The Alternative Board® (TAB) has been featured in leading business news sources from the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, the Washington Post, CNN and many others.
The essential and critical counsel and value The Alternative Board® consistently delivers to small and medium size businesses, and the immediate impact it brings to its client organizations is an essential element for any organization that intends to thrive. | |
ABOUT THE ALTERNATIVE BOARD®
The Alternative Board® is comprised of members who are business owners, CEOs or presidents who run businesses in non-competing fields. During a TAB Board meeting, you receive the benefit of the collective experience of the board members, who offer practical solutions to your problems-not theories.
You can learn more about TAB, which has been helping business owners succeed since 1990, by visiting TheAlternativeBoard.com |
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