How To Lose A Customer - Method #3

You can’t please everybody. Some days, in fact, it seems like you can’t please anybody. The paint color is a shade lighter than the customer thought it was going to be. There is a squiggle in the upholstery seam that only the customer can feel. The shelf is higher on one side than it is on the other—you can’t see it, but the customer can. How do you handle impossible, irrational complaints? (No, a slap upside the head is not a viable solution.)

The first step in handling a complaint—rational or otherwise—is to hear the customer out. Listening is the most important skill in customer relations, so remember the first rule: you can’t listen if you are talking! Let the customer talk first. Don’t pounce on what they say by trying to give them an answer before they’re finished. A remarkable number of complaining customers just want someone to listen to their problems, so learn to offer that particular small service automatically.

Is the customer always right? No, but they should never be told flat out that they’re wrong, either. Soften it a little by using phrases like

• “I can see why you feel that way…”
• “Let me look at that again…”
• “I understand what you’re saying…”

Then make an adjustment if you can, or explain—politely and respectfully—why you can’t. It’s tough to generalize because complaints can vary from the frivolous to the catastrophic, but the key factor in the customer relationship is the way you communicate with them about it.

You may have to shave your profit on a job to make the customer happy, but it doesn’t really happen all that often. There are people who try to get something for nothing, but if we start by assuming that the customer is trying to take advantage of us, we’re never going to resolve the problem to either their satisfaction or ours. In fact, the damage to our relationships with good customers far exceeds any loss we’ll experience by giving in to the unfair demands of the single crooked complainer.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides and Handbooks, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, and management strategy.

How To Lose A Customer - Method #2

When you are in a service business, not every job goes as planned. That’s why, depending on the kind of work you do, you give your customers an “estimate” instead of a firm price before you begin. If you’re smart, that estimate is in writing, and if you’re even smarter, you ask the customer to sign it before you touch their job. Even then, though, misunderstandings occur and customer relationships can become strained. No one likes to get a bill for more than he expected.

It happens all the time: a manufacturer raises the price of a key component after you’ve figured the old price into the job; you remove a panel only to discover a crack in the supports underneath, one thing leads to another and before the job is done the man-hours you originally estimated turn into man-years. You can’t just absorb these unexpected costs, nor should you. But you can’t just pass them on to the customer either, at least not without his prior approval.

Your future relationship with your customer depends in part on the way you tell him his bill is going to be higher than he thought. Your goal should be to convince the customer that you’re not trying to pull a fast one. Express regret that you have to deliver some bad news, then give them the details—and the more details you include in your explanation, the higher your credibility will be. You don’t have to be defensive or apologetic, but let him know you share his pain. If you’re open, honest, and above all timely, you’ll keep that customer.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides and Handbooks, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, and management strategy.

How To Lose A Customer - Method #1

One of the easiest things to accomplish in any business is to lose a customer. Good ones are hard to find, but they’re easy to lose. A certain amount of customer turnover is to  be expected; people move out of town, suffer pocketbook problems, even experience lifestyle-altering events like getting married and having kids that change their buying habits. On top of that natural attrition, though, is the kind we create ourselves. It’s the result of the things we say, do, think, and ignore that drive our customers away.

Losing customers is never intentional, but you wouldn’t know that from the way some business owners and their employees treat the people who pay the bills. They inadvertently insult them, frustrate them, embarrass them, and confuse them in numerous ways that make the customer hesitate before coming back to the shop for more. Some of the problems come from poor attitudes, others from simple misguidance. Often, we think we’re doing the right thing when it’s actually the worst possible thing we can do from a customer relations standpoint.

Here is one of the most common ways we treat our customers that are almost guaranteed to drive them away:

You’re the expert. Let’s say you are in the automotive restyling business. You’ve spent years learning the tricks of your trade, the special skills that let you tweak a convertible top until it’s watertight or lay down a pinstripe with the precision of a NASA engineering draftsman. That’s probably why your customer brought his ride to you in the first place; if he could do it himself, he wouldn’t need you. But that doesn’t mean you have to rub his face in it.

Let’s face it, tricked-out wheels are all about ego. My car is cool and it makes me cool. It’s a reflection of my self-image, my style, my place in the world. If I ask a question, please don’t make me feel stupid when you answer it. You may be able to prove you’re smarter than me, but it won’t improve our relationship. If I have an idea or suggestion on what I want done to my car, please don’t ridicule it. Even if what I want you to do violates all the laws of physics, you don’t need to belittle me when you tell me it can’t be done.

It’s all about respect for the customer, an attitude that’s reflected in the words you choose and even the body language you use when dealing with them. Here are some phrases that you might use to raise the customer’s self-esteem:

• “I can see how you might think that…”
• “Good question!”
• “That’s an interesting idea, but…”

Above all, no matter how hard it is, resist laughing, snorting, or shaking your head in disbelief when the customer asks a question or makes a suggestion.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides and Handbooks, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, and management strategy.

Is Your Shop Customer-Friendly?

When was the last time you looked around your shop to see if there are any customer-aggravating items? How about signs that explain your policies to customers? Do they read like they were written by Joseph Stalin? It’s really not necessary to scold your customers when you tell them where to park, make them stay out of the service area, or keep their hands off your tools, although it may seem like you have to sometimes. “No Customers Allowed”  sounds pretty nasty, especially compared to a sign that gets across the same message by reading, “Employees Only, Please.”

You sound a lot more customer friendly (and professional), too, when you explain why you have the rules you have. Add “Insurance Rules” or “OSHA Regulations” to the “Employees Only, Please” sign and you’ve made your policies sound a lot less arbitrary.

When it comes to rules, it’s not a bad idea to review yours every once in a while. Look at things like your hours of operation, availability of merchandise, deposits, and return policies to see if they serve a real purpose beyond irritating your customers. Do you close so early in the day that customers don’t have a chance to pick up something they need after they leave work? If a customer has to take off work, it’s an additional cost to them of doing business with you. The same holds true for when you open—can they drop off an item for repair and still have time to get to their job? Saturday and Sunday hours are customer-friendly, too. And if you want to really do it right, offer to accommodate customers by appointment at other hours when you’re not normally open.

Most customer relationships are built on good communications, of course, which raises a couple of other questions:  Do you call the customer when their job is ready or make them call you to find out if it’s finished? If the work’s not going to be done when you promised, do you call to warn them? It takes a little time and effort on your part, but the customer who gets such a call generally recognizes the thoughtfulness. Besides, it demonstrates that you respect the value of their time and, by proxy, appreciate their business.

While I’m ranting, whatever happened to saying “thank you” to customers? From the almost total absence of that phrase in most businesses these days, you might think it had been put on something like the FCC’s list of forbidden words. Another phrase seems to have replaced it, the one you hear when the cashier at the grocery store hands you your change and receipt and says, “here you go.”  What the heck is that supposed to mean? Even worse, when the customer takes the change, their inclination is to say “thanks,” which sounds as if they are expressing their gratitude to the store! What’s wrong with this picture?

If you want to make your shop truly customer friendly, make it a practice to thank the customer every chance you get. “Thanks for calling,” “thanks for letting us work on your car,” even “thanks for coming in” are the right words to use when dealing with the person who keeps you in business.

These may seem like little, picayunish details when compared to major factors like how well the product works after the customer gets it home, and they are—individually. But when you add them up, which is what happens when the customer comes into your shop time after time, they grow. Add enough aggravations, and the next thing you know, you’ve built that proverbial mountain out of a molehill
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Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides and Handbooks, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, and management strategy.

Don't Lose Customers On The Phone!

We like to think that things like the quality of our company’s products or service and the fairness of our pricing are the most important factors when it comes to building customer loyalty. To a certain extent, that’s certainly true. But there are several other things we do (or don’t do) in our operations that can sour the customer’s feelings toward us and, all too often, drive them into the welcoming arms of our competitors. Most of those things seem like such small items that we can’t imagine losing a customer over them. But customer relationships can’t be taken for granted because even the smallest molehill can turn into a mountain if we’re not careful.

There are several areas of business operations where mountains are likely to grow. One of the first places to look is your telephone, often one of the first points of entry to your business for your customers. When the customer calls, does it sound like you’re glad they did? Or does the way you answer the phone send the message that their call is an intrusion? If you answer the phone with a supposedly neutral statement like, “Dave’s Guitar Shop,” you’re making the customer work to justify their call to you. If you just add something a little friendlier such as, “Can I help you?” it makes the customer feel wanted. This applies when a real live human answers the phone, of course.

If your customer’s first telephone interaction with your shop is with an automated attendant, some different rules apply. Since most people detest dealing with machines, it’s essential that you make their experience as painless as possible. Here are some guidelines for setting up your automated telephone answering system:

• Make the welcoming message cheerful and short.
• Offer an immediate option—like “press zero”—to speak to a real person, then repeat it after the other options.
• Keep the number of choices to a minimum. If your customer has to wait to hear, “Press twelve for the parts department,” you’ve lost them.
• Label your choices by functions the unfamiliar new customer will recognize, like “parts,” “machine shop,” and “estimates,” instead of “Charlie,” or “Susie.”
• Don’t make them press more than one number before they’re connected to a human.

If you absolutely must use a voice mail system, make sure it’s customer friendly, too. Everyone’s greeting should be pleasant and promise a return call as soon as possible. At the end of each message, repeat the option to “press zero” for an operator.

Whether you use a voice mail system or have someone who takes messages, make it an absolute rule that every customer message gets returned that same day—although within an hour is even better. Even if you have to call back to say you can’t talk to them now, make an effort to acknowledge the call.

The degree of customer-friendliness of your telephone system is easy to test. Just take a page from the manual of the retailers who employee “secret shoppers” and call your shop from outside to see what it sounds like. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask yourself if the person that greets you—recorded or live—sounds like he or she is smiling. Listen to the entire greeting and ask yourself if you feel welcome. If you have an automated attendant, press every option at least once to see what happens. If you end up in voice mail purgatory—where you don’t know if the message you’re leaving is for the right person—you know you’ve got a potential problem.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides and Handbooks, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, and management strategy.

B 2 B Direct Mail Marketing Followup

Once you’ve done a few mailings, go visit the prospects on your list. Before you go, though, think through what you want to say to them. A short (three-minute) description of what you do and how you can help the prospect’s company make money will get you started. Once you’ve delivered it, ask them what you need to do to get their business, then shut up and listen. Nine times out of ten, they’ll tell you what you need to know as long as you use a professional approach and demonstrate a willingness to pay attention. Don’t be offended if you get a brush-off or two and don’t give up if they say they already have a preferred source for what you’re trying to sell. If that happens, thank them for their time and move on. Keep them on your mailing list, though, and visit them again next month—things change!

You should also have a leave-behind of some sort for every sales call. This can be a version of your latest direct mail piece, a fancier brochure, or even a coffee mug with your logo. And don’t forget to give them your business card. In fact, one of the best tactics you can adopt is to always hand out two cards at a time and ask the recipient to pass one along to anyone else they know who might be interested in your services.

Once you’ve established a relationship, build on it. There are all kinds of creative things you can do to keep your company at the top of the prospect’s list of preferred subs and vendors. Offer to sponsor a sales contest for the prospect for example, awarding a prize to the dealer’s salesperson who sells the most pieces in your line during a given period of time. Watch for the prospect’s own sales event, then have a pile of pizzas or a few boxes of donuts delivered with your compliments on their busiest day.  If the prospect belongs to a civic group or supports a local charity, become involved with it yourself. The goal is to keep your name in front of the prospect all the time.

Your own vendors may help you with business-to-business marketing, too. Many manufacturers and distributors have co-operative advertising programs that pay part of the cost of your printing and mailing if you feature their products. Even if they don’t have a formal program, it doesn’t hurt to ask the next time you place an order. Others may have regional sales reps who would be available to go with you to make face-to-face calls. You should also ask if your suppliers do any lead generating of their own—trade shows, magazine advertising, etc.—that they can share with you.

Even with help from your vendors, marketing isn’t free, of course. A hundred first-class letters will cost you at least $100 for postage, envelopes, and computer printer ink. Imprinted coffee mugs aren’t cheap and even a supply of business cards will set you back a few bucks.

The biggest expense, though, is your time. Someone has to compile the prospect list, write the sales letters, and make the sales calls. In most small businesses, that someone is you. To control that particular expense (and to make sure the marketing gets done), dedicate a set number of hours every week to it, budgeting your time the same way you do your money.

Marketing is an investment from which you should expect a return. Fortunately, results from business-to-business marketing are usually easy to track. There is a finite prospect list, you know exactly how you’re marketing to each one, and you can easily identify the orders that you get from them. Make the investment in business-to-business marketing for a few months, then review the response. You might be surprised how much your company’s business has grown.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

How To Succeed At B 2 B Direct Marketing

Advertising to other companies doesn’t mean running TV spots in the Super Bowl. It’s much more targeted than that, which means it’s much more economical. Direct mail is probably the single most effective medium to use; it’s intrusive and there’s very little waste circulation. There are three keys to successful direct mail: a good prospect list, a compelling message, and repetition. You can make up a short prospect list yourself if you spend a little time with the Yellow Pages. Just look up the dealers and other prospects in your market area, call them to get the names of the general managers, service writers, sales managers and buyers, and you’ll have a solid prospect list to work with. Keep it handy, by the way, because you’ll use it later when you start making sales calls.

The direct mail piece itself doesn’t have to be a four-color glossy catalogue. In fact, a one-page personal letter introducing you and describing how you can make money for the other company (in one form or another, that should always be your pitch) will be a good place to start. Every three or four weeks, send another one saying the same thing in different ways. You can announce new equipment or product lines you’ve added, quote a recently satisfied customer, or brag about any awards you’ve received. Address it to each individual on your list, keep it to one page, include a picture or two, and make sure you send something at least once a month.

A web site is a useful business-to-business marketing tool, too. If it has plenty of pictures of your work or products, testimonials from satisfied customers, and some information about your background and your company’s capabilities, it will give the prospect even more reasons to send business your way. Also make sure there is a working email link, phone and fax numbers, and keep it all up to date. You don’t need to hire a high-priced web designer, by the way; most hosting services offer perfectly good bare-bones templates. The site itself can cost less than $10 a month.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Social Media Marketing Tips From The Pros

“You have to create a plan. I see many professionals and smaller businesses who haven’t looked at their objectives. Who is their target audience? What key messages are they trying to get out?”
--Stacy Cohen, Co-communications

“A great way to gain followers on Twitter is to Retweet what someone else has to say or to jump into their conversation and add your own perspective. Also ask people to retweet your links by adding the words ‘Pls RT’”
--Stacy Solomon, Internet Marketing Consultant

“If you are spending five hundred to a thousand dollars each month on marketing and take even one or two months of this and invest in setting up your social media, you can see a significant long-term gain for your business.”
--Gerald Stern, WOW Production Services

“One hundred high-quality followers easily equals one thousand so-so followers, because in the social media world you want people to constantly pass on the things you write, as well as send you material to post. Business people must avoid an overt ‘sales’ method—you’ll just turn people off and you’ll lose your following.”
--Chris Cornell, Westchester Social Media

“You should never expect social media to be completely cost-free. Someone must spend time staying on top of all those tweets, messages, Facebook updates and blog posts. Likewise, quick (if not instant) replies are necessary to maintain a reputation for responsiveness.”
--Kristen Ruby, Ruby Media Group

Whether they pay-it-forward or pay-as-they-go, more and more business owners and managers are turning to social media networks for very good reasons. “In the current economic downturn business owners must go above and beyond to promote themselves,” says Rye NY Chamber of Commerce Secretary Sally Wright. The organization received dozens of requests for a repeat of its recent social media seminar. She adds, “Social media is one great way to accomplish that.”

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Pricing For Profit - Step Two

Once you know how much the merchandise or job costs, you mark it up to provide a profit. One way is to use what’s known as “keystone” pricing, which simply means doubling the cost to arrive at the selling price. This provides a 50% gross profit margin. That’s why retailers can put goods on sale for 40% off and still make a profit. It works fine, but it isn’t always the best choice.

You can also use manufacturers’ suggested retail pricing, which even further simplifies the calculations. Nationally uniform prices, of course don’t reflect local market conditions, much less the individual business owner’s costs of doing business. Remember, too, that they’re designed to help the manufacturer move more merchandise, not necessarily help you make more money.

Using a standard markup sounds simple, but that’s really only the beginning of sound pricing strategy. You also have to be sure that the gross profit is large enough to cover your overhead, or the indirect costs of operating your business, and still leave a net profit. Whether you’re marking up merchandise or deciding on a labor rate, you’ve got to build in something to cover the rent—and all those other bills you pay every month.
Every business has indirect expenses (not related to the cost of a piece of merchandise or a particular employee’s labor on a job) that have to be paid. The obvious ones include your building and what it costs to operate it (utilities, maintenance, taxes, insurance), your fixtures, tools, office equipment, vehicles and other fixed assets (their cost on an annual basis is your depreciation expense), your salary and benefits (especially health insurance), not to mention the office manager and other general employees. Don’t forget to add in your property and casualty and liability insurance premiums, accountant’s fees, advertising and marketing expenses, office supplies, telephone, and so on and so on. While you’re at it, make sure you include an annual contribution to your own retirement plan, be it a 401-K, SEP-IRA, or whatever.

Finally, add something for net profit. That’s the whole point of running the business, right? The net profit, by the way, is not the same as your salary as the manager or owner. Your salary is payment for your labor managing the business. If you’re the owner, the net profit is the return on your investment and the compensation your receive for the risks you take. There’s a big difference.

The total dollar amount of your shop’s gross profit, the figure that has to be larger than your overhead expense, is also dependant on how much merchandise you sell or how many jobs you complete. These are determined, at least in part, by the prices you charge. If your prices are too high, customers will run away, so it can be a vicious circle. Cost-based pricing is all well and good, but ultimately, the prices you charge are determined by what your customers are willing to pay. That’s where a whole raft of other factors comes into play.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Pricing For Profit - Step One

When it comes to prices in your business, how much is enough and how much is too much? How do you set your prices? Buy low and sell high is the obvious answer, but for many companies, especially those with a mixture of retail merchandise and services, bricks-and-mortar and online competition, and customers driven one day by a penny-pinching budget and the next by the lust called gotta-have-whatever-at-any-price, there aren’t any easy answers.

Setting prices requires that even the most experienced manager or owner take a few moments every once in a while to dust off the calculator, get the accountant on the phone, and do some serious figuring. It’s tempting to just mark all merchandise up by a fixed percentage and figure labor at a flat rate comparable to what your competitors charge, but that’s not managing for profit, it’s hoping for one. There are several factors that you should consider.

Start with the cost of goods sold. That’s the amount you pay the manufacturer, wholesaler, or whomever for the merchandise you sell, whether at retail or as part of a service job. But it also includes the cost of acquiring those goods (shipping and handling), carrying them in inventory (interest expense), and allowances for returns and defective merchandise. If you pay any salespeople a commission or spiff, that needs to be taken into account, too.

For service work, you have to cover your direct labor costs on each job. These include not only an appropriate portion of your technicians’ annual salaries, but also their benefits, payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, etc

What about the cost of your time? Whether you are a one-person business or simply provide indirect supervision of your staff, your time is a cost that has to be covered. One way to approach this is to divide what you expect to personally earn on an annual basis (including those items above but not your profit from the business—I’ll talk about that later) by 2,000, which is roughly the number of working hours during the year. Let’s say your “salary” plus benefits is $100,000. Your hourly labor cost is $50. Multiply that number by the hours you estimate you’ll personally spend on the job, add in the other worker’s costs, and you have your direct labor costs.

These aren't the only factors, so check next week for more guidelines on pricing for profit.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

How To Turn A Newbie Into A Customer For Life

New customers are the lifeblood of any business, but only if they stick around long enough to become old customers. A one-time buyer is welcome, but the ones who put money in the bank are those who come back again and again.

One breed of new customer that’s tricky to develop is the neophyte, the guy or gal who is new to the world your business inhabits. Maybe they are a first-time home buyer or a young couple setting up a college fund for their newborn. The way you and your staff respond to that newbie can make or break your relationship with them. Treat them like an idiot the first time and you’ll never see them again. Treat them right, and you’ll create a customer for life.

It’s tough, though. A newbie doesn’t know what questions to ask. He doesn’t know what’s do-able and what violates the laws of physics and/or the local building code. She may have seen a TV show where some lucky stiff’s family room went from wreck to magazine-spread-worthy in thirty minutes and expect you to do the same. What’s worse, she’s going to take up way more of your valuable time than this measly little job is worth.

The next time a newbie walks through your door, put yourself in their shoes for a minute. Remember what it was like when you went onto the field for your very first Little League tryout? If you were like most of us, the experience was a little intimidating. Everyone else seemed to know exactly what they were doing, but you weren’t sure. You wanted to make the team, but the single most important goal was to avoid making a fool of yourself.

That’s what the newbie is feeling when he comes into your business for the first time. He or she may not admit it—and may try to bluff their way through—but they are nervous about sounding dumb when they talk to the experts in the field.

Your first job, then, is to make the customer comfortable. Don’t draw attention to his ignorance by telling him it’s all right to be stupid. Instead, listen to his ideas in a non-judgmental way and ask him questions about what he needs at a level he can understand. Try to avoid using terms the customer may not have heard before, or, if you have to, explain them without being condescending.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Perpetual Change Marks Business Strategy

Nothing is so permanent as change. The customer you deal with today will not be the same one you see tomorrow. Your employees will have a different outlook on work when they get up in the morning and your vendors will come through the door with new products, new prices, and oh, by the way, new corporate owners with new credit requirements. More of your tools will have LCD screens and many of them will talk wirelessly to your customer and to each other. You can only hope they keep talking to you. In every type of business—change happens.

Some of us fight change and some of us embrace it, but we all have to deal with it. “You have to respond to the market,” says Michael Young, owner of Street Rods by Michael in Shelbyville, Tennessee. “If you can’t adapt, you’re not going to be here in five years.”

Consider your customers. Most company owners are justifiably very proud of having a base of loyal customers. If they rely exclusively on those loyal customers to support their revenue stream, though, it won’t be long before they see their sales decline. Why? Because customers change. Consider just one simple fact: twenty percent of Americans move every year. While not every one of them moves across the country and therefore out of your market area, many do. And even those that just move across the street put a dent in their disposable income with moving expenses, etc., that cut into their budget for other things—like what you sell. Those lost sales have to be replaced by sales to new customers just to stay even.

Even the customers who do stick around change. Their tastes evolve, they learn new things, they get bored and want to do or own something different. If nothing else, they get older. The baby boomers, the generation that gave us the Rat Fink and American Graffiti, has started cashing Social Security checks. How will that change their propensity to spend money on hot tubs, designer denims, or flat screen TVs? And will the younger customers who hopefully come along to replace them be looking for the same things? Not likely. That’s one reason you see more muscle cars on the street and fewer ‘34 Fords; more Hondas and fewer Chevrolets. It’s not just a change in fashion—it’s a change in the customer.

Don’t fight it

So how do you deal with change? To start with, don’t fight it—you can’t win. Instead, open your eyes to the inevitability of change, make yourself and your company ready for it, and embrace it when it comes. The first step, if you want to keep up with changes in the marketplace, is to make a conscious effort to listen to what the customers are saying to you about themselves and what they want.

“Customers are more knowledgeable,” observes Sales Manager Tom Dickinson of AP Tuning in Lebanon, PA, a company that specializes in high-performance automotive work. Not too many years ago, hot rod magazines and mail-order catalogs defined media for that market. Today, enthusiasts can learn about the sport from an ever-growing number of media outlets—everything from the Internet to entire television networks devoted to it. Enter a term like “torque converter” into Google, and you’ll get 743,000 listings. When Dickinson’s customers see somebody on TV winning races or shows with a car like theirs, they become a more informed—and generally more demanding—customer.

“It used to be that you learned about cars by talking to the guy in the next pit stall at the track,” according to Darrick Klima, also in the automotive performance business as owner of Belleville Motorsports in Belleville, KS, where they build over 100 race cars a year. “One of the bigger things these days are race car workshops and driving schools. People are spending money to become better racers because they’re spending more money on better race cars. It puts a lot of pressure on everybody.” Klima attends schools and seminars himself so he will know what his customers are being told.

Klima also spends a lot of time getting feedback from customers. “We meet change by listening to our customers,” he says. “All I do all day is talk to people who are racing our cars.” He says he and his staff listen to the drivers’ ideas, bounce them around internally, then try them out to see if they work. If they do, the new concepts become incorporated into all their products. “We have to definitely spend more time and money trying to come up with a better mousetrap.”

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Make Money With Facebook?

Can you make money with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media? Five experts answer that pressing question and several more at the Social Media Panel Discussion and Business Breakfast presented by 914Inc Magazine. I'll be moderating the panel and asking the social media pros the things business owners need to know in order to use these tools effectively--and profitably.

This FREE event is Tuesday, September 27, 7:30 to 9 AM at Antun's of Westchester, 35 Valley Avenue, Elmsford, NY. Tickets are limited, so RSVP by September 20.

Here's the panel that will answer your questions about making social media work for your business:

Tara Carraro
Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Heineken USA
In this capacity, she is responsible for developing internal and external communications strategies and programs, reputation management, crisis preparedness, consumer affairs and executive communication. Tara is also responsible for providing strategic counsel and guidance to Heineken USA's brand teams on the use of social media consistent with the Company's guidelines and marketing codes, and she successfully managed the Company's first crisis involving social media. In addition, Ms. Carraro oversees the use of social media in responding to consumer inquiries. Prior to joining Heineken USA, she served as Director, External Communications for Altria Corporate Services, Inc. In this role, she was responsible for developing external communications strategies and plans, along with the execution of both the paid and earned components. Ms. Carraro was also responsible for the development and day-to-day management of programs and strategies to enhance the reputation of Altria Group, Inc.

Chris Cornell
“The Twitter Professor” and Owner of BaseballArt.com
Chris S. Cornell was named “Social Media Guru for 2010″ by Westchester Magazine. Here is what they had to say: Can’t tell your Twitter from your Tumblr? Through his website, twitterprofessor.com, Chris S. Cornell helps people and businesses not only make sense of the crazy social media jungle—but he teaches them how to have fun there, too, by trying to get us all online together as a community. “My original goal with social media was to use it for the benefit of my business, BaseballArt.com,” he says. “Along the way, I saw how useful social media could be for individuals, organizations, and businesses. There has been a surge in the use of social media in the Westchester area. I believe we’ve hit the tipping point.” And Cornell is leading the way!

Michael Perry
Chief Product Officer (and “Social Media Guru”) of House Party, Irvington
As Chief Product Officer, Perry is responsible for House Party’s product vision, design and development, as well as product marketing and management. He has extensive experience in marketing and product development, as well as technical training in analytics, with a specialty in econometrics. He combines this experience and training with a strong research background in human behavior and human cognitive development. This unique talent set is the basis from which he has developed truly innovative marketing strategies and programs for some of the world’s largest brands.

Prior to joining House Party, Perry spent over 20 years on the client side, leading strategy, product, marketing and data analytics teams. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Marketing, Brand Strategy and Emerging Technology at Story Worldwide, a global content marketing agency. He successfully implemented new branding and business initiatives, which resulted in building new revenue and retaining current receivables of $17 million for the agency. He has also established himself as a leader in the social media marketing space, creating social media and storytelling approaches, tools and methodologies at Story, and as a major contributor to the Online Marketing Blog Network. Prior to his experience at Story, Perry held strategic marketing positions at Wyndham Worldwide/Group RCI, JPMorgan Chase & Company, Bertelsmann AG (BMG), Citibank and Time Warner.

Kris Ruby
President of Ruby Media Group, LLC

A Social Media Marketing & Public Relations agency, RMG “socializes” businesses for Web 2.0 and helps companies adapt traditional marketing into social media platforms. RMG specializes in social media optimization, personal & corporate branding in real time and optimized PR. By utilizing various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN, RMG creates online visibility for her clients and increases overall branding awareness by enhancing their brand image in Web 2.0 communities.

Kristen founded RMG with the goal of opening the vast potential of Social Media on the web to companies wishing to build relationships, grow and profit from Web 2.0. Kristen is at the epicenter of the social media marketing world and frequently speaks to businesses and associations on new media and viral marketing. She also presents social media workshops for CEO groups to empower business owners to utilize social tools for their networks. Kristen was honored by Columbia University’s Business School to lead a social media workshop for its alumni organization and was chosen to speak on personal brand authenticity at Microsoft.

Kristen graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication with a major in Public Relations and a minor in Sociology. She is also the Director of the” Girls In Tech” social media mentorship program, created to encourage girls to enter the field of social media marketing. She has partnered up with some of Westchester’s most reputable PR and marketing agencies as their New Media Specialist on social media campaigns, including Giles Communications and DataKey Consulting. Kris has filmed segments on personal branding, social media overload, and how social media is impacting dating on ABC Good Morning CT and NBC. Kris is also a columnist for JMAG & Inside Chappaqua Magazine on social media/ branding and was chosen by the Business Council of Westchester as the youngest “40 Under 40″ Rising Stars for 2010.

Nancy Shenker
Founder/CEO, theONswitch

Since starting theONswitch in 2003, Nancy A. Shenker has helped a wide range of businesses launch, re-brand, and flourish. Prior to starting her venture, she worked in various business development and marketing positions and is experienced in all media and in small- and large-scale marketing. She started another business, a publishing venture called www.nunumedia.com in 2010.

Her expertise is in business start-ups and transformations and she has an extensive track record in growing businesses through creative new solutions. Although Nancy was raised in the “traditional” media era, she has embraced the web and social media and is fluent in all forms of online media and uses them to build brands and revenue. theONswitch has succeeded in using combinations of “old and new media” to deliver huge increases in lead volume and sales for a variety of businesses, including real estate, food, retail, and others. Her process is based on four key steps — Imagine, Focus, Buzz and Profit.

Among her corporate accomplishments is the launch of Citibank’s Connecticut branches. She also developed a proprietary database system to identify new retail customers, researched and launched numerous new products/services, played a lead role in MasterCard’s “Priceless” campaign roll-out and managed event marketing for the world’s largest producer of business trade shows, spanning 40 industries.

She holds an AB in English and Psychology from of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a Graduate Diploma in Book Publishing from New York University. She also completed Kellogg’s Executive Communications program at Northwestern University.

Nancy is a Contributing Editor for the New York Enterprise Report and Canada Camps magazines. She has been published and quoted in The New York Times, Smart Money TV , aol, Business Week, Entrepreneur.com, the Associated Press syndicate, The Stamford Advocate, the Westchester Business Journal, AT&T’s and Lowe’s websites, and other publications. She also publishes three blogs – theONblog, Hippy to Wiki and Show Girl Talk and a series of marketing and business tips, which can be found at www.10volts.com. She serves on the Board of Yonkers Partners in Education.

RSVP via email to pr@westchestermagazine.com or call (914) 345-0601 ext 146. Hurry--tickets are limited!

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Advertising's Nasty Four-Letter Word

Back in the good old days when parents actually corrected their children’s behavior, your mother might wash your mouth out with soap if you used certain four-letter words. Today, you should do the same to whomever writes your advertising (even if that’s you) if your ads contain the most offensive four-letter word in advertising, “have.”

It’s scary how often we hear this terrible, nasty word. “We have name brand merchandise.” “We have friendly, knowledgeable personnel.” “We have the latest equipment.” “We have everything from soup to nuts.” You don’t need to look very far to see how prevalent the "have" approach is in retail (and other) advertising. Newspaper ads tell readers what the store has with pictures of items with prices next to them. TV spots show pictures of items with prices superimposed on them and an announcer telling the viewer what they are seeing. Radio commercials do the same without the pictures.

Why is it a bad practice to tell the customer what you have? Because that takes up expensive space and time that could be put to much better use giving the customer a reason to do business with you. Good ads don’t tell the customer what you have. Instead, they answer the key question, “What’s in it for me?” That’s an important distinction to make when every advertising dollar needs to produce maximum results. The lack of worthwhile information in advertising is one of the main reasons people tune it out and why so much advertising doesn’t produce results. When customers stop listening to your advertising, it’s money down the drain.

Learning how to demonstrate product benefits instead of features is one of the most important skills a salesperson can master. The same holds true for good advertising. A benefit is something that satisfies one or more of the customer’s needs. A feature is simply a component of the product. People don’t buy features and products; they buy benefits.

Keep in mind that prices in your ads are nothing more than features of the items you’re selling. And like other features, prices don’t mean much out of context. So the same principle holds true: Don’t just tell the customer how much it costs; tell them what benefit that price delivers. Instead of saying “All gloves are 50% off,” tell the customer to “Buy two for the price of one.” Or, even better, “Protect your hands two times for the price of once.”

There are two exceptions to the “have” rule. The first is when you want to announce something new or exclusive—and even then a benefit should be included. The second exception is in the print or online Yellow Pages. Customers usually use this medium to find specific items, so you do need to tell them you have what they’re looking for. These customers are generally knowledgeable about what they need and want—-they’re just looking for a source. That’s also why it’s a good idea to spread your listings among many headings—-you increase the chance of reaching someone looking for a specific type of product or service.

Communications expert Dorothy Leeds says that every customer listens to their own personal radio station, called WII-FM. That stands for “What’s In It For Me.” Good advertising is like a song that gets played often on that radio station. So stop using that four letter word “have” and start telling the customer what you’re going to do for them. Give them a reason to get in their SUV, drive to your shop, and open their wallet. Tell them how they will benefit from doing business with YOU.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Beating The Competition Through Profitable Sponsorship

When it comes to sponsoring sports teams, it’s all about ROI: Return on Investment. Put another way, what’s in it for me?

The marketing essence of sponsorships—-whether you put your money into race teams or the PTA bake sale—-is the endorsement value that the investment gives you. There is, hopefully, a halo effect in which the potential customer’s good feelings about the sponsored entity transfer to your shop or product as well. And if the customer admires and wants to emulate them, all the better. That’s why golf club manufacturers shower golf pros with free clubs, balls, and shoes. But is the halo effect enough?

“It’s essential to show the sponsor that you gave them value for their money,” according to Tony Thacker, VP of Marketing for So-Cal Speed Shop, which is headquartered in Pomona, California. “It’s very difficult to quantify the return on sponsoring somebody else’s race team effort,” he says, “unless you know that they’ve got the wherewithal to give you the return that you need.” So-Cal’s high-profile involvement with racing dates to 1946. Thacker points out putting a decal on the car is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to giving value to the sponsor. “In our own race effort, we send regular reports out to all of our sponsors and we try real hard to get stories on the race car in different magazines. Typically, other people don’t do that. Professional racers do, but the typical people calling us don’t realize that that’s the more important part of the job."

A productive sponsorship will also generate publicity outside the track environment, with personal appearances, endorsements, and other news-worthy events. That’s what drives the maximum return on investment.

Here are some suggestions of things you can ask for when sponsoring a team:

1. Pictures of the team in action that you can use in your advertising.

2. A letter from the team thanking you for your support that you can post in your business, use in other advertising, and attach to proposals when you give them to potential customers.

3. Personal appearances by the team members—and their equipment—at your shop. You can promote the appearances with direct mail, email, or even newspaper ads as events where fans can “meet the pros” while they inspect your business.

4. Distribution of frequent press releases—identifying your shop as a team sponsor—on event results and team developments.

All of these things will help the team, too. Remember, sports teams depend on fans just like a business depends on customers. The more fans the team attracts, the greater the value of the sponsorships it sells.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Friend And Follow Marketing

Did you know that more Americans use the Internet than read a newspaper every day? That’s bad news for publishers, but great news for business owners and managers looking for ways to reach customers. If you’re like most business operators when you think of the Internet, you visualize a website for your company—and plenty of them have been built at considerable cost and effort. But there are other ways to use the ever-evolving online medium that can be just as (if not more) effective—and costs a whole lot less.

One way to market in cyberspace is with a blog, a type of web presence that has many interesting possibilities. A blog can be nothing more than a simple collection of written entries about anything (or nothing) that’s posted on the web for the curious to read. There should also be a place for you to advertise and write about your company’s history and the things you do. You can also link to your shop’s conventional website. You might even be able to sell advertising on your blog to other local businesses as well as to your vendors. Blogs are cheap (often free!) and very, very easy to create. I got started at www.blogger.com (a service owned by Google) and just followed the easy online instructions.

Another approach is to sign up for Facebook or Twitter or one of the other rapidly proliferating social networks. While there are some major differences between blogging and marketing through social networks, many of the same principles apply. The main feature of both is a sort of message board where you make diary-like entries about topics of interest. The entries don’t have to be long or even particularly literate just as long as they’re about subjects you think your customers care about. The biggest added feature of a social network page is your ability to reach customers (and potential customers) who have signed up to “friend” you. With luck, they’ll keep their connection to you and see your messages every time they visit their own social site page.

But how do you use a blog to market your business? By making it the centerpiece of an online community of your customers and potential customers. What makes either one a “community” is your customers’ ability to post their own messages along with yours, either in response to the ones you’ve posted or about subjects that they’d like to discuss. In fact, it’s this interactive feature that sets a blog apart from a traditional website (although you can have similar features there, too). A blog or social network site also gives you opportunities to help the physical community as well, which most business owners consider good for business. A substantial side benefit is that your business enjoys some of the same “halo effect” that an event sponsor gets—at considerably less expense.

If putting your business into cyberspace has seemed like more trouble than it’s worth, maybe now is the time to reconsider your decision. A Facebook page or blog is cheap, easy, and can be a very effective marketing tool.


Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Selling In Cyberspace

Many business owners have considered how much - if any - time and money they should devote to marketing online. The Internet does offer many exciting business growth possibilities, however. The marketing possibilities are limited only by your imagination, your pocketbook, manpower, and patience.

Art and craft galleries, just one of the many types of businesses on the net, have been marketing online for many years. The website is essentially another complete business location--which happens to draw customers and artists from around the world who shop with their keyboard, mouse, and credit card. Artique Galleries' owner, Mike Stutland, put his Lexington, KY, galleries online in 1999 and says, “The web site has attracted customers from beyond our normal market area. It has brought people into our stores, especially through our links with many tourist information sites.” Those customers may well not have been reached otherwise and therefore represent new sales.

In order to compete for the attention of online customers, the former Chairman/CEO of Valentine Radford Advertising in Kansas City, Mo., Chuck Curtis, offers some tips based on the agency’s survey of 1000 online shoppers.

1. 89% of Internet shoppers use the Internet for product information. Make sure your web site is rich in product details.

2. 45% of Internet shoppers click on their local newspaper and 32% click on their local television station site. This is good news for businesses who can inexpensively buy advertising just on the local media’s web site.

3. Also buy advertising in the email news updates that local news media send out. About half of online shoppers have signed up for these.

4. 58% of these shoppers have signed up for an online loyalty program. It’s a smart idea to reward your best customers with a frequent buyer plan (like the frequent flier programs run by the airlines.) For example: Get a 10% discount on your next purchase when you spend $50.

5. More than a third of the survey (38%) use a wish list feature on the site for their purchases. These are items they would like to buy, but can’t purchase at the moment, and they register their desires online.

6. About two-thirds of the time a shopper will research a product online and then buy it in the store.

7. Many retailers will publish their coupons for in-store use online because the distribution costs are so much lower than putting them in the newspaper or on direct mail.

8. Between 40% and 60% of shoppers (depending upon the amount they spend) strongly object to shipping charges. Many retailers build the price of these into the products, or offer free shipping above a certain amount; e.g., “Free shipping when you spend $50 or more.”

9. 81% of shoppers expect to find a wider selection of products online. Remember that your market online is worldwide. If you find items that you can’t display in your store because of limited retail space, put them on your web site.

With these essential tips from the pros you can take your business to the next level when it comes to online marketing, business growth, and sales.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Building Business Without Cutting Prices

Price-cutting competitors are like rust on a steel tool: as soon as you clean it off, it starts forming again. And, just like insidious oxidation, price-cutters can’t be ignored. If you don’t pay attention, they’ll erode your company’s business. One way to respond to price competition is to meet or beat it at the lowball game. Unfortunately, there always seems to be somebody willing to go even lower and your bottom line suffers as a result. Is there any way one can respond to this unrelenting competition? Two automotive shop owners have found alternative solutions.

One way is to diversify so that you can afford to pass up a job or two without worrying about its impact on your bottom line. Pete Bennett, owner of CoachCraft, Inc., in Lexington, Kentucky, provides as many automotive restyling services as he can think of in a successful effort to build revenue and fully use his shop’s capacity. “As long as we’re promoting quality and being fair about pricing, I don’t worry too much about our competitors,” Bennett says. Volume is important, but not at the expense of quality. According to Bennett, who believes better work supports higher prices. “The quality speaks for itself. “

Bennett not only tries to attract many different types of work, he also maintains a balance between retail customers and dealer subcontracts. He estimates that his business is split just about equally between the two. Retail jobs generate a higher profit margin, of course, but the dealer business provides volume to maintain capacity utilization. Because he has both, Bennett can afford to maintain his prices, even to dealers.

Lee Muntean, owner of AAA Convertible & Sun Roofs in Costa Mesa, California, has adopted exactly the opposite strategy for beating the competition. He targets a niche market and does one thing—but he does it very, very well. This approach provides a strong floor under his prices.

His pricing for dealers and general repair shops isn’t driven by a need to beat the competition, but there is another factor he takes into account: the dealer’s margin. When it comes to pricing work subcontracted to him by body shops and garages, he’s careful to allow them to make a profit without undercutting his retail price. “One thing I don’t want them to do is give the jobs away. That hurts me,” Muntean says. In the ideal situation, the garage’s customer would pay the same if he came directly to Muntean and vice versa.

Any business owner or manager will tell you there is always somebody willing to undercut your price. One way to respond is to make a knee-jerk price cut of your own. As these two successful business owners demonstrate, though, that’s not necessarily the only way to build your business.
Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Vying for Advertising Attention

One of the biggest, fastest-growing segments of the automotive performance industry is the off-road market, but beware of approaching it as if it were a monolithic mass. The market ranges from axle-busting rock crawlers and dust-eating dune racers to soccer moms whose grill-guarded, suspension-jacked, fog-lighted SUV’s never touch any surface rougher than the gravel drive at their weekend home at the lake. Each customer is different, but they’ve all got wallets ready to open to trick out their 4WD ride.

What differentiates these customers from each other is the way they use their off-road vehicle. What’s usually the same is what they want from the shop they choose: knowledgeable service. Industry experts believe that you’ve got to know the customer: “You’ve got the customer who knows the product, and he doesn’t want to talk to somebody who doesn’t know anything,” industry veteran Rusty Megois says. “Then you’ve got the other guy who has done the Internet research, read the magazines, but they’re still not sure. They rely a lot on what you tell them.”

That’s why shop and off-road park owner Carl Roy says he and his staff don’t sell anybody anything. Instead, “We explain things like the importance between differential ratio and tire size, weight balance and distribution, ground clearance, approach and departure angles, wheel speed versus the inertia of the vehicle.” He operates Performance Off-Road, Inc., in Alexandria, Kentucky.

Roy stresses the importance of learning as much as you can about the individual customer: “When it comes to what they want, it depends on their level of experience. For some of them, name recognition means a great deal, there’s a certain amount of brand loyalty. Others, it may come down to who had the best magazine ad that month.” The hard-core customer still sets the standard for the market, even though there are vast differences from one to another in that market segment and their tastes are changing, too.

Another factor to take into consideration is price. Price doesn’t seem to be as much of a concern to off-road customers as it is in other performance markets, although it’s always there in the customer’s mind somewhere.

There is also the influence of the Internet, which as Megois believes, “has made us all more competitive." But Roy believes that: “The Internet gives us a focal point to start the discussion. A lot of people will come in with an ad they’ve printed out and say ‘I’d like this for my Jeep. Can you beat that price?' That creates the opportunity for us to take them out and illustrate that there are differences—qualitative differences, warranty differences, product support differences, engineering philosophies—and how those transcend the price points of the product.”

Ultimately, the experts believe that quality time does the trick. “The amount of time we spend with the customer is our competitive advantage,” Roy says. “Everybody out there is selling the same stuff we are. The only advantages we offer are the experience and abilities we have.”

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Dynamic Manager Handbooks - Priceless Advice For A Dollar

Sometimes you need to brush up on a single issue you're facing in your business. For just ninety-nine cents, you can turn to the Dynamic Manager's Handbooks for a quick refresher on sales, marketing, advertising, or several other disciplines that affect your company's bottom line.

I'm planning an even dozen for release this year. Here are the first seven:

Customer Relations: The Dynamic Manager's Handbook of Customer Satisfaction
Five Rules Of Advertising: The Dynamic Manager’s Handbook Of Small Business Advertising
Marketing In Cyberspace: The Dynamic Manager’s Handbook Of Social Media Marketing
Beat The Big Box: The Dynamic Manager’s Handbook Of Winning The Retail Battle
Promotion and Public Relations: The Dynamic Manager’s Handbook Of Alternative Ways To Build Your Business
First Call Selling: The Dynamic Manager’s Handbook On How To Make Sales On The First Call
Sales Promotions: The Dynamic Manager's Handbook Of 23 Ad Campaigns and Sales Promotions You Can Use

You can find the Dynamic Manager Handbooks for Kindle at Amazon.com or your Nook at BN.com.

Best of all, they're only ninety-nine cents!

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.