 | | TAB Fort Worth Anniversaries | |
June/July Anniv.
Bedford Burgher
Liane Janovsky
Donna Davis Mixon
| |
|
 |
| Hear How We Help Our Members |
|
|
| |
| | Quick Tips | | Renewing Without Selling
My gym has a great strategy! When my membership expires at the end of the year - and if I choose not to renew - the gym calls me a few weeks later to tell me that I have some unused sessions that are still mine to schedule. In this way, I'll come in, get in the swing of being back there without feeling any sense that "I'm being sold". In my mind, I've already paid for these visits (I think!). It's a great technique for any business that relies on renewals.
Fran Cassidy
AXA Advisors, LLC
Melville, NY
Advertising to Fit Your Needs
Don't try to catch a mouse with an elephant gun! If you only need a few new customers each year, you don't need to dial the mass advertising up to 11. Focus your advertising expenses, your sales and customer service team and all of your marketing initiatives on that small handful of customers. You'll save money and your advertising will be more focused and more effective.
Lara August
Robot Creative Management LLC
San Antonio, TX | |
|
| | Attend the TAB Fort Worth Business Bites |
"Good venue, lunch and program. Would highly recommend for the future" - Richard Minker
"The library setting and the lunch were truly icing on the cake" - Jan Edmonds
"Good lunch, good speaker, nice guests - I think you have it covered" - Amy Kelly
| |
|
|
| | Event Details |
----------------------------
Watch for Upcoming Events
8/4 - "Talent Management: Hiring & Keeping Highly Motivated Employees" - Norm Bobay, President, hireMAX
9/1 - "Sales for the Non Sales Professional" - Shelley Plemons, President/CEO, Strategic Sales Solutions
10/6 - A Current State Insurance Audit for the Small Business Owner, Bill Wallace, CEO, Wallace Financial Group
11/12 TAB DFW Quarterly Business Improvement Workshop | |
| |
|
| |
TAB Tips published in the Fort Worth Business Press | |
| |
|
| | Need to find something in one of our prior newsletters? |
Click here to access our archived newsletters. | |
|
| | Connect with LinkedIn | |
LinkedIn Classes
6/24 Advanced Sales & Marketing
7/16 On LinkedIn . . Now What? Profiles Plus
7/30 Advanced Sales
Click here - Integrated Alliances LinkedIn training and Social Media strategy
| |
|
|
| 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.
|
| |
| | TAB in The News | |
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
Training Event for Sales, Marketing and Non-Sales Professionals | |
Capital One Bank's Sundance Square Branch in downtown Fort Worth will be hosting a training event for Sales, Marketing and Non-Sales professionals! Strategic Sales Solutions, a Fort Worth-based consulting firm, will conduct the training sessions.
"Our goal is to help locally-owned companies recover from the tough economy by teaching them the skills to grow their revenue substantially in a short amount of time." Learn secrets on WINNING new business while increasing your existing book of business. TAB members receive a 30% discount when registering (contact Cheryl for discount information).
The training program will consist of two tracks, one specifically for sales and marketing professionals and the other for those professionals who are involved in sales without it being their primary responsibility. Both tracks will offer four training sessions that will meet on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning September 17th. Lunch will be provided by Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.
These trainings have been PROVEN to generate RESULTS, time after time. This is the real deal. Here's what just a few customers have said!
Shelley Plemons, Strategic Sales Solutions | "I loved this training! I was shocked to look up at the clock and see the time had just flown by! Shelley did a great job and really shared her ideas and resources!"
"You are very inspirational and your Cold Calling Techniques training program completely removed the fear and dread of making sales calls."
"You were able to assess our strengths and weaknesses within minutes and offered us advice that has changed our sales approach, resulting in more sales this year."
For more details and registration information, CLICK HERE. You are making this purchase at absolutely no risk, as you are protected by a 100% money-back guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with the service, simply notify Strategic Sales Solutions within 90 days, your money will be refunded immediately. |
 |
|
New Member Highlight
Share Ideas and Problems
Casey Borgers, Owner, Supplement Spot | |
 As a new business owner, Casey Borgers joined TAB to share his ideas and more importantly, his problems. Casey feels that his TAB membership has already been beneficial. Casey has owned Supplement Spot since December 2008, when he closed on the assets of the predecessor company, Young Again. Prior to his purchase of Supplement Spot, Casey was involved in commercial real estate in North Texas. In fact, Casey got into the web-based nutritional supplements business as a side line to his real estate business.
The strengths of Supplement Spot are the main nutritional supplements in its product line and its excellent staff who are truly customer service oriented.
Regarding the strengths of the company: the product, Maximum Prostate has numerous success stories where the size of men's prostate shrunk demonstrably; and Dutch Greens (from the Netherlands, of course) provides 7 daily helpings of fruit and vegetable needs in one serving.
I am more than a little impressed with your honesty and had actually recommended your products to others prior to this incident occurring. I am always impressed with the quality of service, the ease in negotiating your website and prompt delivery of your product. I will most definitely continue to recommend your company and products in the future.
-
Martin Cox |
|
|
Delegating Profit and Loss Responsibilities |
Delegating (not abdicating) profit and loss (P&L) responsibility to your management team gives people ownership and accountability. They will think and behave more like business owners than employees.
My service department was spending several hundred dollars every few months on rag cleaning. I showed them the cumulative numbers; they decided to buy a washing machine to clean their own rags. The savings was more than $1,500 annually and the team is proud of what they did!
It was difficult for me to delegate P&L responsibilities, however, it has made a huge difference to our bottom line. And it freed up some of my own time to focus on other strategic activities.
Ron Kiefel, Wheat Ridge Cyclery, Wheat Ridge, CO |
|
|
Q/A The Workplace Doctor™
Weight Discrimination |
 |
Dear Workplace Doctor:
As a business owner, I may seem biased, but I chose not to hire the most qualified applicant because the applicant was obese. I need employees able to meet physical work demands and do not want higher medical costs and absenteeism. Is it illegal?
Karl, owner of medical supply company
Dear Karl,
While Federal law does not prohibit weight discrimination, some ethic and racial groups that show a higher prevalence of obesity than other groups have filed complaints of weight discrimination. Today over one third of American adults are considered obese and cost U.S. employers an estimated $13 billion annually. Missing out on hiring your most qualified applicant--priceless.
As an employer, consider best practices such as ensuring job descriptions' weight requirements are reasonably related to essential job requirements, serve healthy foods in vending and meetings, secure discounts at health and weight loss clubs, offer voluntary participation in Weight Watchers, walking groups and team sport activities as well as cardiovascular screenings, health and wellness education and performance assessments.
While paying attention to workers' weights is a legitimate concern, it can be an expensive bias.
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 |
|
|
Communication
Why Your Company Needs Social Media Guidelines | |
Though some business owners feel that social media isn't a useful marketing tool for their company, and they could be right, employers must keep in mind that even if their company isn't blogging, podcasting or tweeting - their employees are. Before putting reminders on paper, consider including the following in your social media guidelines:
- Employees may not use your organization's logo on their personal blog, website, Facebook page, etc.
- Employees should make sure that it is clear that their views are their own and that they are not representing the organization.
- Your company will not be liable for any misinformation that is published by employees on personal websites, blogs, etc.
- Consider whether or not you want employees to be able to include a link to your homepage.
- Encourage employees to think before they post or publish. If they have concerns about information they are sharing, they should be reminded to contact their supervisor and/or public relations department.
Most employers can sum up their guidelines in a few paragraphs. Consider forming a committee of employees to review them and provide feedback before they are adopted by the organization. This will help create buy-in once you are ready to roll them out. Finally, make sure employees understand that their participation in social media is certainly their decision, but that they can be held accountable at work for what is posted on their personal time.
|
|
|
Interns Add Value | |
Helium Resources, formerly Fortis First Career Services, LLC, has successfully placed a number of internship candidates with TAB members this year; most recently, a marketing intern for Unified Services of Texas, Inc. and a financial services intern for Elhoff Financial Consulting.
Many employers recognize the benefit of utilizing interns as a cost-effective way to tackle short-term initiatives and bring new energy to the business.
If you have thought about incorporating interns into your staffing strategy or are interested in learning more, please contact contact Audrey Riegling with Helium Resources. |
|
|
Leveraging Each Others' Networks | |
Seek out and establish cooperative marketing partnerships with collaborative or complementary businesses. This is a cost-effective way of marketing each others' services by leveraging joint networks.
For instance, my carpet cleaning company serves commercial and residential clients. My colleague's company - a blacktop paving and sealing business - also serves commercial and residential accounts. We market to each others' lists, offer our discounts across our marketing lists and cross-promote our services. In other words, you can pave your driveway and receive 10 percent off your carpet cleaning.
The more relationships you have, the more value you can create and offer to your prospect and customer lists.
Ken San Pedro, The Carpet Cleaning Guy, Bohemia, NY |
|
|
Ready, Aim, Fire! |
The best time to terminate someone is the first time you think about it.
So often, business owners procrastinate about letting someone go. But we shouldn't. People who are not the right fit for your company can negatively affect your other employees.
Ask yourself this: "Have you ever looked back on a termination and told yourself you wish you had not done it?" My entire TAB Board agreed that this had never happened to them.
In fact, if you are relieved that one of your employees intends to leave for "a better job", it is an indication that you should have let the person go previously. That situation is far more likely to occur than one in which you regret that you acted too soon.
Tim Turner, Turner & Son Homes, Edmond, OK |
|
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 |
|
Jamie Brown, Owner, Jamie Brown Public Relations 