 | | TAB Fort Worth Anniversaries | |
Aug./Sept. Anniv.
Justin Hewlett | |
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| Hear How We Help Our Members |
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| | Quick Tips | | Offer More Options
When presenting your client with product or service options, consider competing with yourself. Present your client with your two standard products and create a third option of a product/feature set that is way outside their need or budget. Given two options, clients will usually choose the cheaper option. Given three options, clients are more likely to choose the
middle-priced option, which may increase your revenue.
James Brennan
VirtualCDO, Inc.
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| | Event Details |
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Watch for Upcoming Events
10/6 - "A Current State Insurance Audit for Small Business Owners" - Bill Wallace, CEO, Wallace Financial Group
11/3 - "Year-ending Tax Planning Strategies for the Small Business Owner" - Susan Roberts, CPA, Tax Partner, Sanford, Baumeister & Frazier, PLLC
11/12 TAB DFW Quarterly Business Improvement Workshop
12/1 - "Financial and Business Controls to Protect the Assets of the Small Business Owner" - Josh Agren and Karanae Barrey, CPA, Audit Managers, Whitley Penn, LLP | |
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TAB Tips published in the Fort Worth Business Press | |
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| | Archived newsletters | | Click here for our archived newsletters. | |
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| | Connect with LinkedIn | |
LinkedIn Classes
Contact Lucinda Ruch for more details on August and September classes
Click here - Integrated Alliances LinkedIn training and Social Media strategy
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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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| | TAB in The News | |
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TAB Fort Worth Business Bites Lunch 'N Learn
Sales for the Non-Sales Professional | |
Register by August 27 for this free event; limited seating
Please join us on Wednesday, September 1, 2010, at 11:45 AM at the offices of Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, LLP.
Our speaker is Shelley Plemons, CEO/President, Strategic Sales Solutions. This workshop will introduce the non-sales professional to the principles of consultative selling and assist you in mastering sales concepts and skills. Enhance your confidence by using your everyday communication skills and personality to win business! Register Here / More details / Free parking & lunch provided
Feedback from previous 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 |
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Employee Procedures | |
When creating an employee handbook, one of the things we include is a worksheet after each section that allows our employees the opportunity to comment and make suggestions on how to make the procedure work better for them or make it more clear.
Then, when we are ready to update the manual, we have a ready list of all the suggestions for improvement. Anthony Baldino, JPG Electric Main & Construction Corp., Ronkonkoma, NY |
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Q/A The Workplace Doctor™
Employees Driving Distracted |
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Distracted driving is dangerous and it's a moral, legal and business issue.
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 11% of drivers were using a handheld or hands free phone during daylight, plus an additional 1% of drivers were texting and driving, totaling about one in every eight drivers being distracted by an electronic device.
According to AAA, 5,870 people died in 2008 and an estimated 15,000 people were injured in crashes in which at least one form of driver distraction was reported to police. If there is an accident, two questions will likely be asked: 1. "Were you on the phone?" 2. "Was the other party on the phone?" If it is a company vehicle or company business, it could be a business issue too.
As business owners, educate your employees. Take a cue from Oprah and ask employees to sign a pledge. Update company policies, and remind your employees to pay attention, drive defensively and pull off the road when they need to talk /text/search and drive. It's good business and good prevention.
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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Managing Sick Time | | Every company should have a sick-time policy that is administered equitably, and employees should take sick time seriously. One of the important components of an overall sick time policy is to insist that employees actually talk to a manager when calling in sick. Voicemails, emails, text messages and leaving a message with a junior employee are not acceptable ways of communicating absence due to sickness.
Insisting that employees call in and speak with a manager helps to reduce sick time abuse. Besides increasing respect for the sick time policy, this also contributes to operational continuity.
Brian Gilligan, Utility Solutions Corp., Toronto, ON |
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Sticky Core Message |
You can help your employees prioritize and make decisions by having a simple core message for your business that acts as a pass/no pass filter. As Dan and Chip Heath explain in "Made to Stick," when Southwest Airlines was confronted with the "do we
serve a meal to our customers?" question, the answer was obvious when they viewed the question in light of their core message: THE low cost airline.
Finding a "sticky" core message - one your employees can easily understand and remember - will help them make the right decisions for your business.
Diego Prusky, InStyle Digital Marketing, St. Louis, MO |
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Printers and Copiers Have Memories |
Not only does your computer have a hard drive, but so does your printer! The memory in your printer saves everything you have ever printed, copied, faxed, or scanned. When the memory is full, the drive automatically erases the oldest information but keeps the rest. So, when selling, donating, or just getting rid of a printer, clear the hard drive just as you would with a computer to avoid private information becoming public. James Warner, QSkilled Staffing, Alto, MI Copiers have hard drives that store a copy of everything that has ever been copied on them. Many businesses don't realize this when they get rid of old copiers. Click here to watch an investigative report from CBS News. Steve Wells, CTS Services, Beltsville, MD |
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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.
TAB members receive a 30% discount ( contact Cheryl). Four training sessions are scheduled on Fridays from 9 AM to 4 PM beginning September 17. Lunch provided by Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. For more details and registration information, CLICK HERE. 100% money-back guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with the service, simply notify Strategic Sales Solutions within 90 days. |
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The Power of the Sliding Scale | |
Companies often ask questions like, "How should we price X?" or "How would you compensate this employee?" For some reason, business owners seem to feel they need a "fixed" solution when it comes to pricing, compensation and the like. However, by establishing milestones (dates and performance levels), you can use a sliding scale (or a range) for pricing your products and services, commissions, partner agreements and for compensating your employees.
How powerful is a sliding scale? Of our eight board meeting topics today, we were able to solve three of them using the sliding scale/performance method.
Diane Smith, Smith & Associates P.C., Lakewood, CO |
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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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