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ISSUE #50
April, 2003
The high flying, money spending, self promoting leader is OUT. The down-to-earth, clear headed decision-maker with a long term perspective is IN. What does that mean to you? It means if you plan to find yourself among the ranks of the successful, you'll want to pay attention and learn.
Business leadership is in transition.
This month's Feature Article, "Business Leadership NOW!", will bring you up to speed with current viewpoints about where this transition is headed and how you can be a player.
April's Lunchtime Telephone Roundtable topic, "Are You Sending the Right Message? Effective E-mail Communication for Executives and Entrepreneurs", will open a discussion on the important subject of clearly communicating your message, one of the key capabilities of the new leader. Our guest expert, Jane Tabachnick, E-Marketing Strategist, will share her years of experience through the dot com boom and bust eras. She'll offer insights and resources for you to be more effective in your online communications. See below for date and time and how to register.
The first follow-up coaching session for last month's Roundtable program, "How to Generate Real Business Through Networking" is scheduled to take place on April 22nd. We've decided to extend the sign-up date so you can gain the benefit of this work if you're really serious about making effective use of your networking. Those who've already signed up have praised the simplicity and clarity of the material. Get full details at http://www.axelrodlearning.com/marian
Hot off the mouse button is my "redefined" web site for Prime Strategies, which is the publisher of Small Business Leader. To visit, go to http://primestrategies.com/. Your comments and suggestions are welcomed. You'll notice a couple of new programs, the Business Growth Group, http://primestrategies.com/business_growth_group and Business Leadership Boot Camp, http://www.primestrategies.com/business_leadership/boot_camp. You've asked for these, so do check them out.
The first web page for the SmallBizLeaders group is on the new Prime Strategies web site at http://www.primestrategies.com/smallbizleaderscom. The main site is in development. Now's the time to let me know what would be beneficial to you. We're still developing the model.
To your success,
Marian Banker
Publisher
Small Business Leader
mailto:marian@primestrategies.com
http://primestrategies.com
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FEATURE ARTICLE: Business Leadership NOW!
Are you the owner of a small business? A professional in private practice? Or an executive in a small company? If you are any of these and you don't think of yourself as a "business leader", shame on you.
By default, when you have decision-making responsibility and authority, you are the leader.
In its March 2003 issue, Entrepreneur Magazine focuses on Leadership. Their cover text reads "Who are America's future business leaders? You are. So what does it take to succeed? The best leaders combine bold new strategies with time-tested values. Are you up to the task?"
I couldn't have said it better myself. This is the message I continue to communicate. NOW is the time to accept the role. Allow it to challenge and motivate you.
Entrepreneur's article, "Lead the Way", by Joshua Kurlantzick identifies some of the key qualities for the redefined role of leader. The leader's old role of charismatic superstar has been redefined as a dedicated team leader with a mission. Recent spectacular business failures such as Enron, Tyco and others, have shown that short term glory is short sighted and will eventually come back to haunt you.
Here are some of the tactics and qualities of great leaders as highlighted in the article.
Recession Response: Use the recession as a time to reassess how you want to lead (and where you want to go). Prepare yourself to start the next phase of your business on a stronger foundation.
Grassroots Strength: A leader gathers the strength of the group. Great leaders are able to attract followers within in their company, their community and their industry.
Make Tough Decisions: Real leadership means making tough decisions and getting them carried out. Take a stand and back it up. This requires accurate information and input from trusted resources.
Good of Company First: Builders of strong and profitable businesses make decisions based on long term benefit to their company, not the short term benefits for themselves. This mindset is what's termed a level 5 leader in Jim Collins' book, "Good to Great", published by Harper Business. Jim's book is a great leadership reference even though the research is based on findings from large corporations.
Develop Leadership from Within: Joshua Kurlantzdick says the courage and freedom to "Try and Fail" is important. Great things come from trial and error. Of course, it's important to try on a small scale to limit damage from failure. Analyze it? Learn from it! Leadership requires courage - the courage of one's convictions. Jim Collins reiterates this in his strategy of getting the right people on board first, then allowing them to learn how to lead through trial and error in their own area of expertise.
To follow the footsteps of Great Leaders, here are the four steps listed in Kurlantzick's article.
Be able to communicate with a wide audience.
Be willing to make unpopular decisions. (Take a stand!)
Be determined to make sure your message gets through.
Create and implement quality systems and methods that will survive (after you're gone).
Some of these may not be your natural behavior. Coaching is certainly a great way to develop courage, communication skills and perspective. You can also add these to your capabilities through affiliations and networking. It's more important than ever to have an active network that can be tapped for its expertise, new business potential and reinforcement of leadership skills.
I believe (yes, I'm taking a stand) that by small business leaders coming together to learn from each other, each will gain in their own leadership skills. As a result their business will be the direct beneficiary, becoming stronger and more valuable.
There is such grassroots strength within the small business community. It's time to tap into this strength. The SmallBizLeaders framework that's currently being built is a structure designed to organize and develop that grassroots strength from the ranks of small business leaders everywhere. To get a preview of this new virtual community, go to http://www.primestrategies.com/smallbizleaderscom
Final words for the leaders of tomorrow's strong and profitable businesses: recognize that you are the leader of your business. As such you must make good business decisions, take effective actions and get what you need to follow through.
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ACTIVITIES:
April Lunchtime Telephone Roundtable
Topic: "Effective E-Mail Marketing: Tips and Traps"
Date: Thursday, April 24th, 1 to 2 p.m. EDT
Moderator and Discussion Leader: Marian Banker, MBA, Business Leadership Coach
Guest Expert: Jane Tabachnick, President of Jane Tabachnick e-Marketing, a firm that creates integrated online and offline marketing strategies. She has helped companies of all sizes to go digital in their marketing and their communications. Jane is a recognized author, speaker and trainer and has written a book by the same title, due to be released late in the Spring.
E-mail volume will continue to explode as person-to-person e-mails are joined by rapidly-growing amounts of spam, alerts and notifications. The challenge is how to use e-mail more effectively to get your messages read instead of trashed. Jane is an e-marketing veteran who knows her stuff and loves to share her insights and knowledge. This call will be a sneak preview of what's being covered in her forthcoming book, "Are You Sending the Right Message? Effective E-mail Communication for Executives and Entrepreneurs".
Bring your questions, share your experience and learn from the interaction that takes place at our monthly Roundtable events. Be there!
To register and receive the call-in number, send an e-mail to
marian@primestrategies.com with the Subject as Roundtable.
Here's just one of the many positive comments from a previous Roundtable...
"Very effective Roundtable today. The guest is obviously a pro. He had lots of useful information to share". Norma Siciliano, Hot Sales from Cold Calls
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TIP:
SELLING POWER
The close is a crucial aspect of the sales presentation, but you can't give a good one without knowing where you are in the lineup of competing presentations. In other words, if you're the first of four companies presenting to a customer it's very unlikely he or she will commit to your product at the end of your presentation. Thus your close should not ask for a decision, but rather a follow-up appointment after the last presenter. If, on the other hand, you're the last of four presenters, you know the customer already has the information he or she needs to make a decision, so asking for one would not be out of line.
From the SellingPower.com Presentations Newsletter, http://www.sellingpower.com
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and INVITATION
I'm a member of the New York City Chapter of the International Coach Federation (ICF), a professional organization for coaches. A couple of years ago the Chapter decided to create a Speakers Bureau based on the knowledge that many of the members are speakers and that there is always a need for quality speakers.
I was part of the original committee that worked for over a year putting it together, including a web site with online speaker application and database, http://www.icfnycchapter.org/speakersbureau.
Last year, our Chapter President, Henry Barbey, asked me to become Chair of the Speakers Bureau and take on the responsibility of building it into a viable operation.
The work has been a labor of love. I'm confident we now have a valuable resource for those who use speakers.
The culmination of the year's work is our upcoming Speaker Showcase, featuring 12 registered speakers, all of whom are members of the ICF-NYC. The Showcase is our way of getting the word out that we have great speakers who are eager to speak pro bono for non-profits and within budget for corporations.
Our program theme is "Speaking with Passion". Topics are representative of the current work about which the speakers feel passionate. This premier event will be taking place on Tuesday, April 8, 2003, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. here in New York City. The address is the SLC Conference Center, 352 Seventh Ave., (between 29th & 30th St.). 16th Floor. If you are in New York City on that date you are cordially invited to attend. Please RSVP to Alison Lenox, icf-nyc@earthlink.net.
The ICF-NYC has made great strides in building a professional organization of which I'm proud to be a member. Henry Barbey, our president for the past 2 years, has taken the organization from its solid foundation to a strong, well-supported and innovative organization. He has lots of great things still in the works. Henry's done a great job building the ICF-NYC. I acknowledge his contribution. Great job, Henry! Find out more about Henry at http://www.centerforcoaching.com/.
Hope to see you at the Showcase!
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ARTICLES:
MORE EXPENSE CONTROL
If credit card sales are a large part of your revenue you'll want to read Stephen Roth's article about how you may be paying a lot higher rate per transaction than you thought. Hidden charges are often added where they're not easily noticed by the unsuspecting business owner with little time to review monthly statements.
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2003/03/03/smallb1.html
PARTNER WITH LARGER COMPANIES
Continued marketing is critical to your business, but the costs can easily get out of hand. SmallBizWorthy, in their article, "Small Cost Campaigns, Big Time Gains", suggests ways to partner with larger companies on community events where you can both benefit.
http://www.smallbizworthy.com/cc2/news/articles.asp?id=597&catid=36,19
CAREER PATH PLANNING
Create a career path for each employee from entry level to senior and make this known at the time of hire. Business growth, employee retention and job satisfaction are some of the rewards observed by companies with solid career path planning in the article Inc.com article, "Why You're Hiring All Wrong".
http://www.inc.com/articles/hr/manage_emp/hire/23858.html
BUSINESS VALUE
I'm frequently asked how one puts a value on a small business. This article in FSB, "What's Your Business Worth", offers general guidelines for how to determine this for your business. Since someday you'll want to exit your business, it's good to know what how value is calculated so you can work on building it up.
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/smallbusiness/answermen/0,15704,433637,00.html
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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER:
Marian Banker has been publishing Small Business Leader since January, 1999. Her focus is on bringing to the busy entrepreneur a quick look into the current world of small business from the perspective she's gained from coaching, consulting and training entrepreneurs in both service and product based businesses.
Marian offers individual coaching, business support groups, seminars and workshops on topics of critical interest to small business owners. Her monthly Lunchtime Telephone Roundtable has proven to be a popular way for business owners to come together around a specific business topic without leaving their office. See notice about this month's topic in the content above.
To learn more about her services, visit http://primestrategies.com.
FEEDBACK:
Your feedback is always appreciated. Please write to marian@primestrategies.com.
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COPYRIGHT 2003 SMALL BUSINESS LEADER
A publication of Prime Strategies
http://primestrategies.com
MNMBZ, Inc.
Notice and Disclaimer:
Of course, I'm open to your including my content in your publication with proper credit. You must, however, obtain my written permission first. Thanks!
Content in the SBL is for information purposes only and should not be construed as specific advice.
