Thursday, May 14, 2009

Act Now For Tomorrow’s Recovery

Like in the movies things always seem their darkest just before the light at the end of the tunnel. The recovery will happen. We all know it will. It is only a matter of when.

Now as most of you know every Monday I post the reposts coming out for the week. These are posted for you to benchmark what is going on out there, but most important of all those are, New orders for nondefense capital goods, the inventory to order ratio, corporate bond prices the Purchasing Managers index, the Conference Board’s U.S. Leading Indicators and of course the good old Stock Market, but between you and I, I sometimes wonder about the stock market.

Meanwhile you need to start preparing yourself for the coming upswing.

Here is the Larson short list of things to do:
1. Prepare and train your front line people.
2. Negotiate any labor contract you might have (if you have any).
3. Develop your advertising and marketing programs now.
4. Enter or re-negotiate any long-term leases.
5. Look for additional vendors.
6. Consider capital expenditures in light of market potential.
7. Use pessimism to your advantage when making any acquisitions.
8. Lead with optimism and a can-do attitude to get people past their fears.
Larson note: There are always opportunities in any economic cycle. If you’re watching you can recognize them early and act quickly. So be a Boy Scout and “Be Prepared”.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. Want to be a guest blogger? If you have any marketing, advertising or sales stories to share and want them posted on the Larson blog email them to me at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com. You and your company will get full recognition and links to your website.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Direct Mail Formats long or short copy?

The trend today seems to be on short copy. Tri-fold self mailers, postcards, oversized postcards, one page sales letters with a simple business reply card work very well in a b2b direct mail attack for any lead generation program. Get in and in a few word make your point.

Larson note: I am a long copy kind of guy who believes more in the headline than the length of copy. Draw them in and then make a convincing message. But both can and do work.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. Want to be a guest blogger? If you have any marketing, advertising or sales stories to share and want them posted on the Larson blog email them to me at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com. You and your company will get full recognition and links to your website.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Choices of Young Adults

77% Eliminating all debt
23% Buying new car

77% Saving as much money as possible
23% Having as much fun as possible

73% Maximize current income
27% Getting a graduate school degree

73% Build career
27% Having children

64% Financial fitness
36% Physical fitness

64% Proper insurance coverage
36% Vacation time

58% Saving for retirement
42% Saving for my next vacation

46% Buying first house
54% Having extra spending money

Financial products possessed by young adults

84% Checking account
79% Debit card
68% Savings account
62% Credit cards
26% Employee sponsored retirement account like a 401K
17% IRA
8% none of the above

*Source: 2009 Young Adults & Money online survey of 1,252 adults ages 23 to 28 conducted by Lieverman Research worldwide on behalf of Charles Schwab in January of 2009.

Larson note: This just tells me that people my children’s age are looking at the world and there financial and economic life a little differently.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. subscribe to our newsletter "Mastering Marketing Monthly" at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Week Ahead for May 4 – May 8, 2009

Monday:
Tuesday: March trade balance
Wednesday: April retail sales, March business inventories
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, April producers price index,
Friday: April consumer price index, April industrial production

Larson note: Not out of the woods yet in these statistics but if you have been reading the papers at all you can see what is going on. Some things will be good here and some, well not so good but remember we are looking at the past. Everything I’m seeing and reading says get your house in order and your engines revved up.

Larson & Associates Our focused industries we are looking to add clients in for the month of May are Advertising Specialties, Trade Show Booth Builder, Sign Shop, and a Graphic Design Studio, and Printer (small and mid-sized)

Howard’s out of office public schedule for the week:
Monday: Marathon Training 6:30am, Chicago tripTuesday:
Wednesday: Thursday: Marathon Training 6:30am
Friday:

Trade show schedule:
> June 9-11 2009. Intl. Robots, Vision & Motion Control Show
> September 2009: Assembly Show
> September 2009: Motivation show
> November 15-18, 2009 Fabtech Int. & AWS Welding Show McCormick Place, Chicago

Time slots still available to meet & talk over coffee.

Racing schedule: Madison Marathon Sunday May 24th.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. subscribe to our newsletter "Mastering Marketing Monthly" at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com

5 Tips To Better Managing

According to a recent Gallup poll, 70% of employees don’t really care about the company they work for and with. The largest single problem is the relationship they have with their front line manager.

I started my company back in 1975. Fresh out of school. Great ideas, plenty of energy, but no idea on how to engage people. To empower people to be the best “them” they can and could be.

I did the usual things like taking classes on management and supervision but it was not till I became aware of and joined Sales Professionals Int. (free plug here) that I was introduced to the likes of Nick Carter, Hank Trisler, Brain Tracy, Tony Robbins, and others that it all started to come together for me.

1. Speak and life your vision. Be who you say you are.
2. Listen to everyone. Yes everyone. You might be surprised at how smart people can be if given a chance to speak and be heard.
3. Make sound requests. Busy work is just that. Make requests that have a meaningful consequence to your business.
4. Become a master at diagnosing and problem solving. You can’t sit back and wait for last months statistics to make decisions. That is middle managements job. Yours is to know you, your business, your people and run! Am I talking instinct here? Street smarts? Yes. Only your banker wants to see the numbers.
5. Holding everyone (including yourself) accountable for producing results. If everyone is empowered to do their job, they can be held accountable to see it is done.
Larson note: What is the biggest challenge your company is facing. Are you part of your vision? Are your eyes and ears all open, and working? Has someone been empowered to do it? In the end your numbers will be up, you will sleep at night and have time to enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. subscribe to our newsletter "Mastering Marketing Monthly" at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

More Leads with no budget

How can you find and generate more leads when your budget is running on empty?

Look in your data bank and warm up those seemingly cold leads. Maybe you were just a little too quick to put them out to pasture. Maybe there is gold in those names. Quite often these are prospects that were not quite ready to buy. The timing was not right for them, and it is there timing that is important not your need to make another sales for the month.

Reach out, call them, email them, send them a card. Just get your name in front of their face.

Another prime spot for leads is that chamber you have been paying dues to these last few months or years. It’s time to get the payback. Start calling those people you have been sitting with at the monthly lunch. Join one of the associations committees that allows you to use your or talk to members about them and yourself. (Do I hear membership committee?)

Can you talk? There are hundreds of “clubs” that have hungry program directors begging for a speaker. Talk about your business or industry and a reoccurring problem hand how to solve it. NO hard sell but make it clear that you can offer help to these kinds of problems. I sure do when I talk.

If you blog and you have a good one, email a copy to current clients and prospects. Once again you are showing off your knowledge and ways that you can help them in their business.

Larson note: Take away their pain. Show them the road to the cure to what their problems are and how you can help elevate their pain. People always more form pain to pleasure. Don’t you?

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. subscribe to our newsletter "Mastering Marketing Monthly" at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com

Monday, May 4, 2009

The Week Ahead for May 4 – May 8, 2009

Monday: March construction spending
Tuesday: April institute for Supple Management services index
Wednesday:
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, 1st quarter productivity, March consumer credit
Friday: April employment report, March wholesale inventories

Larson note: More ups and does for the reports but we are going to see more ups than downs. When you look at the productivity numbers, keep in mind that inventory reduction is an excellent way for companies to reduce costs. Idle inventory is a cost. Don’t believe me just ask GM) and with overall inventories down it can mean only one thing, time to get those machines and people back to work. Now I ask you, have you positioned yourself to get your (more than) fair share? The big start is in my opinion not going to happen until June but start pumping up your sales force, get your marketing plan out of mothballs and get it updated if you haven’t already.

I took my own advice and, finally after a 3 month search took on a sales manager for the Heartland States of America. Mr. Rogier Chapon of Wichita Kansas, a Six Sigma black belt. You can contact him at rogier@larsonassociates.ws or call him at 316-773-5719 By June he will be starting to hammer home in our summer expansion, as we put even more people to work.

Larson & Associates Our focused industries we are looking to add clients in for the month of May are Advertising Specialties, Trade Show Booth Builder, Sign Shop, and a Graphic Design Studio, and Printer (small and mid-sized)

Howard’s out of office public schedule for the week:
Monday: Marathon Training 6:30am
Tuesday: 2009 Design 2 Job Shop Show, Schaumburg IL
Wednesday: Thursday: Marathon Training 6:30am
Friday:

Trade show schedule:
> May 5&6 2009, 2009 Design 2 Job Shop Show, Schaumburg IL,
> June 9-11 2009. Intl. Robots, Vision & Motion Control Show
> September 2009: Assembly Show
> September 2009: Motivation show
> November 15-18, 2009 Fabtech Int. & AWS Welding Show McCormick Place, Chicago

Time slots still available to meet & talk over coffee.

Racing schedule: Madison Marathon Sunday May 24th.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. subscribe to our newsletter "Mastering Marketing Monthly" at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com