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THE SIP REVIEW
Greetings!
I have interrupted my flow of articles on the trip of a
lifetime to Manila to bring you this message for this excellent time of the
year. I do love the end of the
year, it gives us a chance to reflect, review, and resolve on what has
happened, and what will happen.
Reflect on what has happened, both in family and work and even our
personal lives. Review how we did
against our goals for the job, family, finances, physical, emotional, and even
our spiritual lives. And resolve
what we want to accomplish this next month, year, or perhaps even decade.
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So Here We Go... 
I am writing this the week of Veterans Day, Nov 11th. So let me start there. If you are a veteran, thank you. Because of your unselfish sacrifice, in
some cases, the ultimate sacrifice, we would not be living in a free
country. So I am appreciative of
what you have done, and continue to do.
And to those of you who are related to a veteran, even if they have left
this life, I thank you for supporting them while they did a job many of us
couldn't do. So if you see a
soldier or know of one, offer to buy them a coffee or hot dog or a real dinner,
thank them for being involved.
Similar story for police, firemen, sheriff department, all
of the people who make it possible to live and work safely in our country. A fireman runs into buildings we are
running out of. If I have a bad
day, someone yells at me, or I miss a flight. The police and sheriff's department employees get shot at, and
make about the same dollars you and I do.
Another category that I am grateful for is the teachers. They have a hard life today. They cannot hug, spank or even pat the
kids on the back anymore for fear of reprisals. They work long hours, grading papers, putting together
assignments, and then buy a lot of class materials with their own money. So thank them, they are shaping the
future minds of America, not many jobs more important today.
OK, on to the subject at hand. How did the year go for you? I realize it was a perfect storm in terms of the
economy. Real estate was at an
all-time low, still falling in some states. 401Ks are damaged (in some cases beyond repair) more than we
imagined. And many of us are not
buying things as we used to, just too scary out there. Our businesses are bleeding, cash flow
is worse than it has been in years, and the customers who we used to count on
are now cutting back on their purchases.
Not that I want to get negative.
I do believe we make our own luck, and the harder we work, the luckier
we get.
If the year was not exactly what you had imagined, then
let's do something about it. We
cannot change history, but we can certainly learn from it. Have you thanked the customers who did
help you this year? I mean thanked
them, not some note on the invoice "thanks for the business". Call them up, or send a real note that
expresses your thoughts about how important they were to your survival this
year, and it is possible they were more important this year than in some years
past. And how about your
family? Did you thank them for
standing beside you this year. I
realize you may think they didn't do everything you wanted, could have done
more. They may say the same thing
about you. As an example, if you
had a chance to meet with a hundred fellow contractors and all got to throw
your troubles into a huge pile, then pick out the ones you wanted in exchange
for the ones you had, we would all pick up our own again. So thank them. It has been a hard year for them as
well.
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Budget for Next Year... 
So, just cause we had a tough year, don't think that we
shouldn't do a budget for next year.
In fact, this next year may be a pivotal year in terms of the
economy, and we need to monitor
how we are doing every step of the way.
As many of you know, I am a coach and partner on the Service
Roundtable. Recently some of the
posts revolved around productivity.
One contractor said he looked at the numbers every week. Another came in and said he looked at
the end of each day (what the billings were, average tickets, unapplied labor,
that sort of thing), and finally a contractor said he looked at the numbers
each hour of the day! Each
hour! To see how they were doing against
budget, against the numbers they had estimated would be used in each activity
that day. He said he wanted to
know if any tech was getting into trouble, he would take action to bail him out
immediately. That hour, not the
end of the day or week. It is all
over by then. Takes a real
commitment to the team and a system that can give you real-time information,
but can be done.
So I believe the financials are even more important today
than ever. We just don't have much
room for error, and a year less time to correct the problems we see in the
economy. So what am I doing
different this year? Lots. I am involved in Facebook, Linkedin,
Plaxo, all those social sites. In
fact, this year I re-connected with two accounts via Linkedin, we had not
thought of each other in years.
And we are now doing projects together again, I asked them to be part of
my connections, and business happened!
I am also calling customers who have not done business with
me in the last 4 or 5 years, trying to see how we may work together on some new
packages. And we are looking at
ways of delivering our message differently than ever before. To markets we have never been in
before. Using Jon's web site to
engage business. Speaking of that,
Jon just purchased a business building system that is outstanding, and he has
several businesses involved in a trial program. So it is not business as usual, but it is still business, we
must make something happen and soon, for the competition is fierce.
And lest I forget, I do appreciate you being involved with
me these years. This year is my 10th
in business for myself, and I couldn't have done it without you. So let's go for 10 more.
Thanks for listening to my ramble. Now, enjoy the holidays, eat a ton, read Mitch Albom's
latest book called Have A Little Faith,
and catch up to family and friends.
It's do ya good.
---------------------------------------------------------------
JIM HINSHAW 
President
Sales Improvement Professionals Inc.
Phone: (602) 369-8097
Email: JimHinshaw@SipTraining.com
Web: www.SipTraining.com
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