If I Am Not In Trouble, Why Hire A Business Consultant?

Crisis Management:

For most people professional business consultancy is a trouble shooting exercise that a company undertakes to manage a crisis. Even the business owners, especially small and relatively new ones, confuse such services with troubleshooting and avail of them only in cases where the management loses control. For instance, if the project has suffered time and cost overruns or if they need easy solutions to technical problems that call significant investments and making capital outlays.

However, services offered by professional consultants are not bound by such limitations. In fact, consultancy is a third-party professional service that must be availed to look at issues related to the business in a broader perspective. There are many cases when absolute involvement in the business limits the owners' vision on the outcome of their business plans. Consultancy brings clarity to their thought processes. This article aims at educating the business owners on the concept of consultancy and offering them a few tips to decide whether their business needs a consultant.

Who are Business Consultants?
Consultants are business professionals who weigh pros and cons of business strategies and advice you accordingly. They offer a variety of services including business start-up advice, operation analysis, formulating marketing strategies, making business plans, management consulting, and much more.

'Must Do' Exercises before Hiring a Consultant:
Before you hire a consultant ask yourself some basic questions such as what gains you are targeting from the business, have you done enough advertising for your business, and are your products placed well in the target market. Also, do the products reach the target public, did the business generates profits as per your expectation last year, are the operating expenses under control or as per the original plan, have you set goals and see the business achieving them gradually, and finally are you satisfied with the business' overall performance.
 
If you obtain answers to these basic problems, you have cracked it. This question and answer session with your own self will motivate you to improve the performance of your business by allowing you to focus on the areas of improvement. If you think that you know what the problem is but unable to find out a satisfactory answer or solution for the problem, read books, go to libraries, attend tele-seminars. If all fail, approach a consultant.

Make the right choice:
There are all types of consultants available in the market. You should do your homework and hire consultants that can be trusted for their valuable business solutions and complete reliability. However, you should never forget that he/she is third party and may not know the company's business in-depth as the owner. Hence, owners' participation in the strategy making and decision-making is necessary. Therefore, hire a reputed consultant and see your business grow

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/393199

Marketing Consultant Tip: Write a Sales Letter

Most marketing consultants will agree that a sales letter is a great way for a company to get their foot in the door of potential clients. A sales letter can serve as an introduction, or be used like a newsletter that announces new developments to current customers.

Many business owners are not confident in their writing ability. One way to get over this fear is to decide what you want to say. Verbalise it first, then a marketing consultant can take your ideas and put them on paper, or in the content of a web page or email message.

Here are some tips to help you get started with a sales letter for your company.

First Things First

Perhaps the most important parts of the sales letter are the subject line, greeting, and opening. These are the first three things a customer, or potential customer will see when they receive your message.

Think carefully about the subject line for an Email message. These days, so many people are inundated with spam they tend to pick and choose which messages even get opened. Make sure your subject line provokes immediate interest. Ensure that it states succinctly how the body of the message is going to benefit them. You might want to offer something discounted or even free in order to grab the reader’s attention.

The greeting should be personalised, if at all possible. A generic address is a sure way to sound amateur and immediately indicate to the reader that this is a form letter.

The opening of your letter comes next. If you are sending the sales letter via Email, remember that many people use the preview pane included in their Email program so they will see the header even if they don’t open the message. Again, the idea is to make it attention-getting and eye-catching. It is appropriate to use colour here and perhaps a simple graphic.

The Body

Once you’ve attracted a potential client’s attention, don’t lose it by making your sales letter a blatant pitch. Make it friendly, informal, and interesting. You might want to consider including a story from a satisfied customer as a way to keep the recipient reading on. This also shows them how your product or service can benefit them.

Keep the text simple. Avoid using long or complex sentences or big words; neither do you want to use industry-specific jargon that might not be understood. Your sales letter needs to be easy and quick to read.

The Ending

The last paragraph should include a short summary of the content of the sales letter. Always include a “call to action”. Ensure there is a link to your website and all forms of contact, from telephone number to Email address to physical address. You do not want to make it hard for potential clients to get hold of you. Put your name at the end so it is apparent the letter is coming from an actual person.

You may want to consider including a printable coupon, or a link to a discount offer. This is a direct call to action which should result in furthering the reader’s interest. If you are mailing the letter, include a coupon or brochure that the recipient can keep.

Remember that a marketing consultant can help you with this process. If you’ve already spent too much time writing and rewriting and are still not satisfied with your sales letter, then call a professional for help. Marketing consultants can also be of benefit by obtaining mailing lists and sending out the professional sales letter in a manner that will be most effective for your business.
From an JUNE, 2009 blog by GIZTHEBIZ http://www.blogger.com/profile/00730143392777624619

Business Consultants: Big Business Through the Ages

You may not be aware that today’s business consultants come from a long background of pioneers who offered their valuable services to the business community. In fact, the first consultants can give credit to some amazing, forward-thinking trailblazers from as far back as the 1880s.
Take a look at this brief history outlining how business consultants and their jobs have changed over the years.
1880s
Over a century ago, people were just beginning to examine business and the way it works. The book, Principles of Economics, was released – one of the first to determine that supply and demand was a major factor in success. Frederick Taylor becomes the first business consultant in the manufacturing industry using principles of Scientific Management. The Emerson Company becomes the first generalised consulting firm that resembles those of today.
1900s
The early part of the century witnessed the birth of the first business schools at Harvard and New York University. Bricklaying Systems is published; it detailed the most efficient processes to lay brick and was used as the basis for later consulting methodology. Charles Dawes becomes the first government consultant.
1920s – 1930s
Leading UK business consultant Lyndall Urwick publishes The Elements of Administration, which details his experiences offering management advice to factory executives. George S. May becomes famous for advocating commission-based marketing. A firm researches the effect of lighting in worker’s environments on productivity. The Great Depression keeps business consultants busy. Problem solving and clients become the focus of most consultancies.
1940s – 1950s
Business and government converge as ex-military officers take over the practice of consulting. Ernest Butten starts his own consultancy firm and advocates the PA Method of Training – still a viable resource for new product development. Future giant Price Waterhouse initiates a consulting department in the rapidly growing firm. The concept of hiring top students from universities becomes an accepted business practice.
1960s
For the first time, women begin to start careers as business consultants, buoyed by the success of Harvard’s business school and the new policy to admit women. Experience curve and growth-share matrix are added to the corporate lexicon and the focus becomes market strategy. The Stockholm School of Economics researches organisational behaviour. Shareholder value becomes an important part of a business plan.
1980s
Corporate executives turn to the book In Search of Excellence to guide their market strategies and achieve success. Computers in the office become more common, but few executives are trained how to use them – opening the door for business consultants to step in and help.
1990s
Salaries of business consultants continue to rise and many firms snap up newly-graduated MBAs. Top talent is in great demand. Price Waterhouse and Coopers merge and experience phenomenal growth in their consultancy branch through a focus on IT and implementation-oriented consulting.
Today, business consultants are still in high demand. In fact, as global economies continue to falter, the need for their services is higher than ever. Thanks to those first business men and women who began to study the processes and principles that make a company successful, business consultants have helped shaped modern corporations and the world as we know it today.

From an April, 2009 blog by   GIZTHEBIZ http://www.blogger.com/profile/00730143392777624619

6 Tips For Getting The Most Out Of Your Meetings:

Tip #1. Decide Whether You Need A Meeting: In most cases, meetings are the cornerstone of your business' organization and company-wide unity. But in some cases, when a project or assignment's parameters have already been established and discussed at length, having a meeting might only cut into time better spent working on the project at hand. So depending on what kind of week your business is having or what the workload is like, your first decision may be whether to even hold a meeting in the first place.
Tip #2. Spend 15 Minutes Preparing For The Meeting: Preparation is vital to streamlining and maximizing your meeting time. If you hold meetings at roughly the same time each day for roughly the same length of time, employee preparation would immensely improve the meeting's productivity. At least 15 minutes before the meeting, employees should write out a list of their goals, objectives, needs and wants so that when it comes time to meet they're ready to hit the ground running.
Tip #3. Encourage Participation From Everyone: Part of being an effective leader in the business world is recognizing your employees' strengths and weaknesses. But just because an employee isn't particularly strong in one area does not mean they aren't still a useful asset. For example, employees with less experience in sales or marketing may be able to provide a new or unique perspective that might not occur to seasoned pros. Similarly, casual readers might be confused by convoluted text on a website that made sense in the writer's mind.
Tip #4. Designate A Leader To Manage The Meeting: To get the most out of your daily production meetings you need to maintain order, structure and direction. Someone needs to step up to the challenge of facilitating the progress of production meetings -- the reading of goals and agendas and discussions about employee responsibilities. They also need to ensure participants remain positive and constructive. We recommend agreeing to a leadership rotation to avoid rigid, hierarchal structuring and to keep each production meeting fresh.
Tip #5. Rely On Employees' Pre-Meeting Preparation: As previously mentioned, preparation prior to a production meeting helps streamline the entire process. These written goals, agendas and requirements should form the framework of the production meeting's discussions and help give the meeting the structure and direction it needs to benefit your company. So hammer home the importance of employee preparation in order to keep your production meetings focused on what matters most.
Tip #6. Develop A Post-Meeting Follow-up Plan: The only way to truly get the most out of a meeting is to send a post-meeting e-mail check on the status of the project(s). Whatever method you choose, a meeting follow-up plan will help everyone stay focused on their responsibilities.

From Dale Carnegie Training.

The Millenials

This is an older '60 Minutes' clip, but it still has a very real message for all of us!


They are young adults and have been coddled by their parents to the point of being ill prepared for a demanding workplace. Morley Safer reports on the generation called "Millenials." 

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us!

Click on this link to see a very enlightening video.
Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

5 Tips to Keep You Sharp

Constant learning is the foundation of a successful business owner. By Scott Halford

It hurts to learn. Yet, learning keeps us mentally agile well into our golden years, and it’s the hallmark of successful entrepreneurs. Keeping up with what you don’t know has the amazing ability to transform what you do know into the next million buck idea. Constant learning is the grease we need to stay competitive.

Many people slow their learning down once they've been labeled an “expert” or reached some degree of success. They may figure their accomplishments are evidence that they know enough--they would be mistaken.

Consider that the half-life of a college education is now three to five years. That means that much of what a student learns during their freshman year will be obsolete by the time they're a junior. Continual learning is the key to keeping you sharp in your market and in your mind.

You need to keep jamming new stuff into your head because your brain feeds on new data and while you’re least paying attention, it makes connections all by itself that appear as insight. Much of this goes on in the background while you sleep and while you reflect on what’s happening in your world.

If you set the conditions right, your brain will sift and sort--even the most seemingly insubstantial factoid--and provide you with your company’s next product or service. You never know what random bit will be incorporated into your old info trove to come up with that blockbuster. The message: Get very curious and be deliberate about learning.

Many of us get so busy running our businesses that all of our learning is on the job and in life. It's not the kind of learning that consistently taxes the brain.  Then when we do go back to some formal kind of education, the ramp-up time to remember how to learn again is excruciating and many people give up. There are ways to keep your mind in tip-top shape so that you are always engaged in deep learning.

Here's what the brainiacs do:

1.       Read one article a day written by someone with an opposing opinion. Your brain chemistry switches on when you are met with competing knowledge or an opinion that flies in the face of your own experience. Be open to it. Read or listen to it all the way through, no matter how frustrated you become.

2.       Learn one radically new thing every day and apply it to your life. Geniuses find unrelated things and put them together to come up with something new. You only do that by adding to your repertoire of experiences and knowledge.

3.       Teach someone something that you’re passionate about. The teaching process reveals new learning for you since people have different questions about what you're teaching. It causes you to stretch in your topic area. You have to be open to your knowledge being challenged. Surround yourself with people who don’t think just like you do. Be brave enough to have dissention. 

4.       Get deep sleep. Entrepreneurs are notorious for claiming to only need two or three hours of sleep each night. Yet, research shows that neural connections are made when you’ve hit the deepest stage of sleep, and that occurs typically over a seven to nine hour period.

5.       Practice “awake sleeping” or reflection. This is another way to allow the brain to find the new connections you’re looking for. Find a few times a day when you can turn off anything that electronically gets a hold of you and simply reflect on what your needs are and how things are going. Be open to the ideas that come flooding into the canals of your mind.

By stretching your brain every day, you keep it young and smart. The combination of the wisdom from experiences and your constant new knowledge will be one of the most powerful innovation tools you will possess.

Scott Halford is president of Complete Intelligence, LLC. He’s an internationally known speaker and writer on brain-based success behaviors. Halford is the author of Be a Shortcut: The Secret Fast Track to Business Success. You can reach him at www.CompleteIntelligence.com.