Your Business Planning Should Include Our Emerging Business Program

This is just what Davinci is all about! If this article from www.entrepreneur.com is for you, then you must check out our Emerging Business Program!

5 Easy Ways to Kick-start Your Business Planning

Don't know where to start with your plan? Here are some tips to get you going--today.

By Tim Berry August 26, 2010

Have you been putting off the business planning? You know who you are. Do you mean to start managing better, but keep getting distracted by fires to put out? Here are five quick and easy ways to start planning today.

Do a SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It's a great way to break out of that planning inertia. It's especially good when there's a team involved. Take an hour or two and jot down bullet points under each of these four categories.

Don't spend all day, much less all week. A couple of hours should work fine.

Don't argue about what goes where. Don't criticize contributions. It's brainstorming. Just jot down the points and record them. Strategy follows. You can't help it. You do a SWOT, and strategy follows.

And now you're planning.

Compare plans to actual sales.
Think through what turned out differently and what didn't, and why. Soon, you'll be thinking about your marketing strategy, target markets, marketing messages, customers, channels, packaging, delivery, complaints and competitors. I'm amazed at how much of business, and the business planning process, pivots around the difference between planned and actual sales.

And now you're planning.

Talk to 10 well-chosen people
Funny how much time goes by for most business owners without really talking even to your customers, much less to a few people who aren't your customers but could be. I was shocked the first time I did it. I felt like I talked to customers often, but that's nothing to what you get when you dedicate time and have a real conversation.

First make a good list. Don't cheat yourself and talk only to the people you always talk to anyway. Stretch yourself further and find some people you don't know, so you get a fresh look. Ask them for their time, not as a survey taker but as the owner or manager of the business. A lot of people will turn you down (I probably would), but if the conversation is framed right, you'll find some people interested.

Start the conversation with interesting questions. The first couple of questions are critical to the success of the talk. Grab their interest. Wake their curiosity.

And now you're planning.

Imagine a customer story
That's right: I say "imagine," not find or tell a customer story. This isn't a testimonial for use by marketing.

Imagine your ideal customer. Give her a gender, occupation, family (or not), children (or not), route to work, favorite magazines, television shows, hobbies, websites, music, and movies. If she owns a car, what make, what model. Imagine favorite vacations.

Now imagine how she finds your business. What does he like about you, and what does she dislike? What prompts him to look for you. Where does she look? What does he tell other people about your business?

How do you want to be described by your customers to their friends? What do you want to make them set you apart, in their minds?

Think about that, imagine that, and now you're planning.

Visualize a better future
Where your business might be three years from now if things go really well. What will your office or store or plant look like three years from now? What will you be selling? How different is it from what you're selling today? Who will you be selling too? How different will that be from who you sell to today?

Some would call this dreaming. But dreaming ahead, dreaming the future, is a vital part of business planning. Dream it, then focus, set the steps to make it happen. Then track and follow up, and manage.

And now you're planning.

Tim Berry is the "Business Plans" coach at Entrepreneur.com and is president of Palo Alto Software Inc. , which produces the industry's leading business planning software, Business Plan Pro, as well as other popular planning applications for businesses. He is the author of The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan and co-author of 3 Weeks to Startup with Sabrina Parsons, both published by Entrepreneur Press.

I think a great addition to the "Visualize a Better Future" section is our Emerging Business Program information.

You Are What You Think

Scott Halford, author and speaker, believes that You Are What You Think. His article posted on www.entrepreneur.com claims that "you can create your perfect world if you know what you're looking for and--perhaps more importantly--if you pay attention to how your brain is fed."

Our philosophy at Davinci Suites is to help our clients and their businesses work smarter and increase success. This article encourages such a mindset: (You can read the entire article by selecting the blue hyperlink above.)

According to neuroscience studies, the adage that you should "be careful what you ask for" has more teeth to it than you might imagine. Your brain is very good at attending to whatever you direct it to....

Thoughts, goals and ideas work the same way, and you can increase your brain's considerable input on them if you learn to ask your brain nicely and deliberately to get involved. You can create your perfect world if you know what you're looking for and--perhaps more importantly--if you pay attention to how your brain is fed.

This process works with negative thoughts, as well. As I teach in classes on emotional intelligence, crap will find you all day long, especially if you expect it. It will parachute into your office without an invitation and typically won't leave when you want it to. You don't have to go looking for it. It will find you. If you are dwelling on the bad stuff, it will find you more quickly and readily, and you won't be primed for the things that will make you successful. Good things need to be noticed. We generally have to be more deliberate about the positive. Your brain will help you find innovative ways to do it. Just prime it, and it will be there for you.

Halford continues with a few tips "on how to make your thoughts work for you."

Try this concept out, see how it works for you this week...

Utah's Long-Term Growth

This article is a wonderful, optimistic end to a great week here at Davinci Suites! You can read the entire PR Wire article at Utah Business Articles' "Long-Term Growth" , but here is an excerpt...

Utah's long run economic performance has been stellar. No other state has consistently ranked among the top five in the rate of employment growth over the past 60 years. Whatever starting year one chooses Utah will rank among the top five states in employment growth. Take the 1950 to 2009 period. Over those 60 years nonfarm employment in Utah increased by 534 percent, ranking the state fifth among all states. The average annual growth rate over this period was 3.2 percent for Utah compared to 5.3 percent for Nevada, the fastest growing state, and 4.7 percent for Arizona. The phenomenal growth of Nevada and Arizona began with the postwar emergence of defense contracting, gambling and air conditioning. In 1950 Nevada's nonfarm labor force totaled only 53,000 compared to 187,000 in Utah and 160,000 in Arizona.

Have a safe and fantastic weekend!

10 ways to GROW your company in spite of tough times

Check out this article from www.entreprenuer.com !

Strategies to Refuse the Recession

10 ways to grow your company in spite of tough times

By Paul Spiegelm

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "Refuse to Participate in the Recession." I have no idea if that driver had a job or was looking for one, but he was obviously electing to make the most of the challenges he faced.

Many say the U.S. economy is still in a recession based on the fact that unemployment is still high and consumers are continuing to temper their spending habits--two elements that define a recession. However, anyone with the desire to be an entrepreneur has to have the attitude of my friend with the bumper sticker.

So how does an entrepreneur succeed in a recession?

1. Become Indispensable
   In a tricky economy, it's natural for people to want to protect the security they still have. In the service industry, one way to prove that your product or service is part of the solution is to point out the consequences that could occur if the service was not around. Try "secret shopping" your customers and document the outcomes; then secret shop a business that doesn't use your service or product. If there's an obvious difference, use these stories to sell your business back to your customers.
2. Invest in the Future
   Most recessions last only a year or two. Companies that fail to continually invest in business improvements, training and marketing are way behind when the economy recovers. In terms of training, consider how to cross-train your team members while business is slow. It may enable you to perform better later on.
3. Seek Out Referrals
   Nowadays, many businesses assume there are no sales to be made, so they stop trying and sit on the sidelines. While sales may be harder to come by, make contacts now so they will pay off later. Furthermore, if you're pulling back on your advertising budget, referrals may be your best bet for generating customers. You should also create a program that rewards current customers for referrals.
4. Buy Weaker Companies
   If you can manage the integration process, a down economy can be a great time to acquire a business.
5. Strengthen Your ROI Pricing Offers
   Customers often question the cost of a product or service because they can't always tie it to a result, and that scrutiny only increases in a bad economy. Offer pricing related to specific results. For example, I heard of a PR firm that only charges for placements, not advice, writing or strategy development. This approach enables the agency to charge more for its services, but customers know upfront what they're getting.
6. Be Loyal and Focus on Retention
   When the recession is over, your employees will be more likely to stick with you. This may mean eliminating free coffee, for example, but have an honest conversation with your employees, and they will usually help you cut costs even further.
7. Maintain a Fun Environment
   When companies cut out the fun, it can negatively impact employee job performance. If you've sponsored parties at work for years, continue these events. A consistent culture will encourage your staff to provide consistent service to your customers.
8. Celebrate Being Small
   Many smaller firms are more nimble than larger firms because they aren't loaded down by multiple management layers and overlapping operating units or debt, so they can make decisions quickly and focus their cash to take advantage of new opportunities.
9. Don't Leave Room for Doubt
   Competitors will take advantage of any opening, and they will be more aggressive in making promises during the recession, even if it means filling in your silence with a few tales of their own. Don't open doors for them by closing down communications with your customers. Instead, increase the frequency of communications with your customers.
10. Fight the Urge to Give Things Away
    If you've been giving products and services away, it will be hard to charge for them again when the recession ends. Remember, if your product or service carries a benefit, it's worth charging for, even during a recession. However, for longtime customers who are having a hard time paying their bills, offer discounts and settlements. Offer this option as a one-time benefit, though, to get things current.

Bonus Tip: Drop Unprofitable Customers
The natural urge is to hang onto every customer, but use the spare time the recession provides to analyze your customer base and find out which ones are the most profitable and which ones are costing you money.

Recessions aren't fun, but they don't have to cripple your business. Smart business owners leverage recessions rather than lament them.

Paul Spiegelman is a speaker and author on customer service, culture and workforce engagement. As CEO of The Beryl Companies, he oversees the nation's leading company in healthcare customer interactions and relationship management. Paul has been named CEO of the Small Giants Community, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting companies that choose to be great instead of big. This role is a natural extension of his first book, Why is Everyone Smiling? The Secret Behind Passion, Productivity and Profit, published in 2007.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/columnistpaulspiegelman/article207236.html