7 Pillars to Business Success

Who doesn’t want to be successful in business? I don’t know one person who wakes up and claims “I want to fail today”. So why do many businesses or business systems fail? Whether you are an entrepreneur, an executive, a small business owner or an employee, there is a standard blueprint to business growth and success – 7 core strategies that are the foundation to every successful business.

1. Bold Thinking

To grow your business you need creative ideas. To create powerful ideas, you need to think boldly. Bold thinking is the art of reaching out of your comfort zone and developing solutions to do things quicker, faster and cheaper or to set yourself apart from your competition with a new product, new brand or a new process. For example, if you traditionally sell on a one to one basis, how can you sell to a group and maximize your time – a hair dresser who traditionally works with clients one at a time can host hair parties and do hair in groups. If you are in a transaction type of business, how can you reduce your transaction volume but increase your unit cost while maximizing your profits – how about increasing your fees? If you are in information marketing, how can you develop the next ebook, membership site or workshop that sets you apart from your competition? To be able to think boldly, you need quiet time away from distractions. Allow yourself time each day to shut down, no t.v, no kids and no phones and just think. Open your mind to possibilities. Our brains are pre-wired to be creative and to solve problems and if you give yourself the opportunity, you can create innovative ideas that will change your business.

2. Access to Learning and Information

New information is available every day and if you are not learning new things all the time, you and your business will not evolve and grow. I work with many businesses and to my surprise, investing in education is not a priority with some. One area where you are certain to get a return on your investment is in education. Surround yourself with a power team and share ideas and information. Don’t be afraid to reach out of your industry. Sometimes something that works in one industry can translate into a power new idea for your industry. Enroll yourself and your staff in classes and mastermind groups and read about emerging trends. Unless you are constantly learning, you may never come across the next best great thing…

3. Opportunity Discovery and Deployment

The ability to identify opportunities and more importantly, to act upon them is critical to continuing success. Too often, businesses deploy the same practices over and over again and they are so surprised then they get the same results. If you could envision a brick wall and a man running towards it and crashing up against it over and over again in an attempt to get to the other side. He continues to go towards the wall in the same manner he always had and fail to recognize the opportunity to walk around the wall or climb over it. Be open to new opportunities and willing to try new approaches.

4. Strong Support System

You cannot grow your business on your own. You need a team or a strong support system to help create and implement new ideas. One of the principles in “Good to Great”, is get the right people on the bus. As business owners, you need to consistently evaluate your support team and be comfortable with their skill, their contribution and the innovation. You also need to be resolved to the fact that your legacy people may not be the right team to get you where you want to go at the speed you want to get there anymore. They may have done a wonderful job in the past but may no longer have the skills, motivation or talent required to keep you moving.

5. Networks and Contacts

No matter what area of business or what industry you are in, your contacts, prospect lists and networks are the lifeline to business expansion and growth. Actively building your network is one of the strongest pillars and requires your attention personally. Business is based upon human interaction and connection and your ability to cultivate relationships will most likely be the source for your next great opportunity, joint venture or business idea.

6. Inspiration and Motivation

Staying focused requires motivation. As business leaders, we carry a large burden on our shoulders to create an energy that will inspire everyone in our circle to perform: Employees, vendors, clients and partners. To maintain the required energy level, we must be motivated and inspired ourselves. Surrounding yourself with positive people who build you up is one of the final pieces of our foundation. Too many times, business owners allow the opinions of others and the judgments of many, dictate their mood. You need to move away from things and individuals who do not inspire you. You need time to recharge and reflect on your core values and translate how those values impact your business. Positive energy create positive outcomes.

7. A “Can Do” Attitude

All the bold thinking, new information, opportunities, strong support system, large network and motivate on will be worthless without a can do attitude. In order to make change and be successful, you need to take action. Many business people come up with wonderful ideas but fail to take action and fail to grow their business at the speed possible and most times out of fear of failure. In business there is much failure and it is important to understand that failure is okay. Not every idea will work and it is imperative that you do not let past failures shake your can do attitude. Continue to create and implement new ideas and continue to believe in them. You need to believe that you can achieve anything and focus your energy on accomplishing your goal. That energy will turn to action and you business will evolve.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at www.kelliedandrea.com.

The Impact of Saying Thank You

I recently wrote about a recent mishap I had when I sprained my ankle and tore a ligament in my foot. It was St. Patty's Day, so we were certain it was going to be a busy night in the emergency room. Sometimes Irish tempers and alcohol do not mix. To my surprise, the emergency room wasn't as busy as I thought, but it was busy enough. I was extremely upset and pushing through a lot of pain as I waited in the emergency room to be seen by a doctor at my local hospital. There was a wait and tempers around me were beginning to rise. I witness many people verbally attacking the receptionist in the ER and just basically being rude.

When it was my turn, I hobbled over and they quickly came to my aid with a wheel chair, ice and a smile. The receptionist turned to me and said two simple words "thank you". It was so surreal. Here they were helping me and I was the one being thanked.... I was touched. That simple gesture was so powerful and absolutely made me feel like I was appreciated.

How often do we take the time, in any situation, both good and bad, to say Thank you to our customers? How about our employees? What would their reaction be when they hear those two simple words?

In today's fast pace business climate, keeping up with basic manners almost seem impossible but taking the time to say "Thank You" to your customers can give you a competitive edge. With our economy in such turmoil these days, how about reaching out to your customers to say thank you for your business, we are here with you to the end. I recently had a client do this and the reaction from his clients was unbelievable - not to mention the retained business.

Simple tasks you can take to thank your clients:

·Simply say thank you. "Thank you for calling", "Thank you for waiting", "Thank you for doing business with us" or just "thanks"

·Send an email or even better a hand written note.

·Throw a client appreciation day and offer discounts, increased services or just a luncheon or party.

· Send a thank you gift, something small but memorable. The more personalized you can make it versus the same gift for every customer.

· Send a unique piece of literature, a poem or an article that you think would touch your customers.

· Donate to a charity in your customer's name

Gratitude is such a simple way to build your business and stand by your brand. Be the company that cares about its clients and take a moment to say Thank You to your customers and let them know how much you appreciate them. to all, will have a bigger impact.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates
Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at http://www.kelliedandrea.com/.

Are You Leveraging the Power of LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is an online social network of experienced professionals from around the world with over 37 million members in over 200 countries. Executives from all the Fortune 500 companies and well know experts, authors and leaders are all LinkedIn members, so the question is, are you?

Do you remember the old saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”? Your professional network is one of the most valuable assets you own that will yield you a return. It is your personal network that you turn to for job inquiries, introductions to new business opportunities, collaboration on joint ventures, research on new people you meet or new companies you want to engage in business.

In the past you relied on human to human networking where you would speak to friends, family and colleagues, stating your purpose and hoping they could either assist with another introduction or at least point you in a direction towards an introduction. Your goal to find someone who may know someone who can help you make a connection typically took going through many individuals on a one to one basis and was inefficient and took valuable time.
In today’s environment of real time access to information, social media and limited personal time, LinkedIn provides you a way to find, be introduced to and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to reach out to in mass therefore saving your most precious resource – your time.

If you are looking for new business, new partners, new referrals, to stay in touch, to research candidates or partners, recruit new employees, or find a new job, than you need to be leveraging the power of LinkedIn. So what can LinkedIn do for you:

• Direct Recruiting – You can find people who are potential candidates for hire, or at least find someone who knows someone who is looking.

• Lead Generation – With a growing network of qualified links, you have a direct audience to use LinkedIn tools to keep them informed of what you are working on, blast emails to your network and presentations tools to generate interest.

• Expert Positioning – LinkedIn provides you the ability to join groups or mini communities of like minded individuals where you can not only ask questions to collaborate with peers, but can answer questions as well. In addition, obtaining recommendations from business partners, employees and peers will provide you with a foundation to build credibility and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

• Research – In LinkedIn, there is an open source to search a company’s name, location and individuals associated with this company. It is a great resource for tracking down previous employment information, other partners and who people are networked with.

• Google Search – When you make your profile public in LinkedIn, search engines such as Google picks up your profile and makes it easier for people to find you. If you are in business and trying to establish a presence or build credibility, enhancing your page ranking in Google is always a good way.

• Job Search – When you get the itch to start looking for a new position, people always turn to their network first. Here your network is expanded. Since you are connected to your connections and your connections have connections and so on. This provides you with the opportunity to cast out inquiries to a larger net.

LinkedIn is rapidly becoming the largest business-oriented online social network and since it is a professional audience, the focus is on business. It is about making the necessary connections to boost your business and build referrals well beyond any network you can develop using human to human networking. The time is now for you to join LinkedIn and harness the power of business connection that is easy, real time and the next wave in business networking.

Stay tuned for next month where we will share with you Tips of How to Leverage the Power of LinkedIn.

Join me on LinkedIn. And Twitter.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates
Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at http://www.kelliedandrea.com/.

We Can Make a Difference.... One Person at a Time!

There is no doubt things are difficult for most Americans these days, there isn't one of us that doesn't know of a family member or friend that is out of work, on the verge of losing their house or cutting back out of fear of what is next. I was recently at an industry trade show where folks were grousing about the economy and sluggish sales. Overall energy in the room was low as people were on autopilot or "just getting by".

I had the privilege of engaging in conversation with a complete stranger and when the conversation turned to him, his response was intriguing "Me and my family are focusing on performing one random act of kindness each day" He continued on to say "with all the negativity and fear that we are being exposed to everyday, me, my wife and two children have decided to take a stand and each day practice random acts of kindness with strangers in an effort to help make a difference and brighten up a person's day". Needless to say, I was humbled.

It reminded me of a story I heard some time ago:

One day a man was walking down the beach when he noticed a figure in the distance. As he got closer, he realized the figure was that of a boy picking up something and gently tossing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy asked, "what are you doing?"

The boy replied, "Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them back, they will die"

"Son", the man said scanning the beach, "don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can't possibly make a difference"

After listening politely, the boy bend down and picked up another starfish and threw it into the surf. Then smiling, the boy said "I made a difference for that one!"

Most likely after reading this story, you remember hearing it before or perhaps a similar story. Sometimes we need to hear these stories over and over again to remind us that we can make a difference and change the world, one act of kindness at a time!.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates
Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at http://www.kelliedandrea.com/.

5 Steps to Continuous Improvement

The driving force behind Japanese culture is the philosophy of Kaizen or in translation, continuous improvement. Kaizen is a daily process of applying ideas that gradually bring you closer to an improvement and can be applied at work or in life. When applied to the workplace, Kaizen can deliver significant results through tiny actions in areas of productivity, employee morale and safety. Companies that embrace this philosophy encourage people at all levels, from the CEO down to evaluate their surroundings and work processes and implement suggestions to improve workflow, standards and process. The end result is that improvements eventually lead to better quality, better productivity and higher profits.

Below are 5 Steps to help you use Kaizen in your organization:

1. Define a Problem

If no problems existed, then there is no potential for improvement. First step is to recognize that a problem does exist. Most times the people who create the problem are not sensitive to it since they are not inconvenienced by it every day and nobody wants to admit that they created a problem. Think positive and look at a problem as an opportunity for improvement rather than an issue.

2. Create a Standard

If you don’t have a standard, how can you improve upon it or know that you are improving? There must be a standard of measure for everything in your business, whether it is a worker, machine, process or manager. There has to be a baseline measurement that exists so you continually grow to surpass that standard.

3. Develop 3 – 5 Good Ideas

Once you have identified the problem and the standard that you need to improve upon, the next step in the process is to develop 3 to 5 good ideas. Ones that pass the PCST (personal common sense test). These ideas can come from anywhere within the organization through a suggestion system where people can share their ideas. This will improve morale and let the employees buy into the process through participation. Once you have all the suggestions, select the best 3 to 5. Select the ones that are easily implemented and will yield results within 120 days.

4. Implement Ideas

Kaizen is all about action. You selected the best 3 to 5 ideas that will yield a result within 120 days because it is all about gradual and continuous improvement. Most companies have grandiose ideas and want to solve world hunger in 120 days, the approach we want you to take is to start buying a hungry man a sandwich.


5. Go back to step 1

The last step of the process is to start it over again – hence the word continuous. The goal is to pick your ideas and implement them within 120 days and then implement another set of ideas after that and again and again and again.


In Kaizen, you do not have to focus on grand ideas. In fact the best results and the best ideas are usually the smaller ones because they can be implemented easily and employees will be motivated and begin to like the winning feeling. Once they have that feeling in their gut, they will want more and more and more an eventually bring your organization to the highest level of efficiency.


©2009 Kellie D’Andrea & Associates


Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?

You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at www.kelliedandrea.com.

Is Customer Service is the New Marketing?

I was browsing the web and came across an advertisement for a 1 day seminar called Customer Service is the New Marketing. I was intrigued by the title since I firmly believe that customer service should be a part of your marketing strategy. As a small business owner and a marketing consultant, I have found that providing a strong customer service base at your businesses, word of mouth will take off and you customers will reward you with relaying their positive experiences to their friends, families and business associates each chance they get.

Excellent customer service is the lifeblood of any business and a very critical piece to success when facing a bad economy and many competitors. You can offer promotions and slash prices to bring in as many new customers as you want, but unless you can get some of those customers to come back, your business won’t be profitable for long. Good customer service is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away happy – happy enough to pass positive feedback about your business along to others, who may then try the product or service you offer for themselves and in their turn become repeat customers.

Below are the ten golden rules for Excellent Customer Service:

1. Answer your phone
2. Don’t make promises unless you WILL keep them
3. Listen to your customers
4. Deal with complaints
5. Be helpful – even if there’s no immediate profit in it
6. Train your staff to be ALWAYS helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable
7. Take the extra step
8. Throw in something extra
9. Keep in touch – you don’t want your customers to forget you
10. The customer IS always right, even when they are wrong



©2009 Kellie D’Andrea & Associates





Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?

You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at http://www.kelliedandrea.com/.

5 Thoughts when Creating a Customer Service Strategy

Many companies work each year on their strategic plans including how to evolve their technology solutions, their marketing positions and how to become more efficient in operations. They work diligently each year on putting together annual budgets and resource plans but how often do they put together a customer service strategy? A plan that focuses on knowing what your clients want, what their pain points are and what their needs for efficiencies are.

Some tips:

1) Know you customer at different levels

Don't just focus on one single point of contact. Each position within a client firm has different needs. go the extra mile, learn what your customers challenges are at different points within the organization. People move around, the more you know about your customers and the more people you stay in contact with, the stronger relationship you will have with your customer.

2) Establish a group who owns the high level relationship

A customer service group that focuses on the relationship rather than the day to day problem resolution or service delivery is integral to a successful customer service strategy. Set up performance metrics and a customer communication plan and hold this team accountable for the success of the relationship.

3) Develop a customer scorecard or metrics to manage and evaluate success

By establishing a set of expectations in the beginning and agreeing on how you will be measured makes it easier to track your accomplishments. By creating metrics and service standards, it is easy to highlight you positives. How many times do you get in trouble with a customer over a single mistake? Most people live in the moment and may need to be reminded of all the good.

4) Make sure your executive team reaches out

Customers want to feel special. Have a communication plan that requires the CEO or President to reach out to say hello or to check up on how the company is performing. And not just to the customer CEO, have them reach out to your day to day contact... it will make them feel special.

5) Always ask how you can improve

Markets, trends and industry change daily. Not to mention the players in your field. Always inquire about your performance and always be prepared to make changes. What worked yesterday might not work today. What was one individual preference may not be the next.. The key is to keep communicating and be very responsive to your customers changing needs.

©2009 Kellie D’Andrea & Associates


Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?

You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at www.kelliedandrea.com.