Steve Reports

How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less

Join My Fan Page on Facebook Click Here

FREE Report:

Social Media for Building Business Profits Part 1

Published March 23, 2009

Being on line means you are already using social media sites. The question is should you be using social media as part of your marketing strategy? My experience in developing business with social media being part of the marketing strategy, confirms that social media is a “must have” part of your marketing strategy.

What Is Social Media?

Social media are locations where people build communities based on interest. Just like a physical community where there is a wide range of interests and value systems, you will find diversity in sites categorized as social media. Considering the diversity of interests, it is very important to define the audience you are attracting or your target market.

What Are The Best Social Media Sites For Building Business Revenue and Profits ?

The answer to that question depends on your target audience. For example, if you are an engineering firm, you are more likely to find your target audience on Linked In rather thank on MySpace. However, since MySpace has over 200 million subscribers, your target audience is likely there as well. In this example, LinkedIn may be more suitable for finding your target audience near term but MySpace should not be ignored.

We set up profiles for our businesses and our client companies on most major social media sites. We give each site the focus warranted by the target market. When you are attracting targeted prospective customers, you are then working consistent with your profit goals.

Ultimately you must be able to convert that traffic to profitable revenue. Conversion has nothing to do with social media and everything to do with follow up systems. In other words, conversion has everything to do with your sales funnel.

The Social Media Funnel

I started using the word cloud to describe the population of people using social media. I have seen other people use that term as well and feel it is a good description. Tools within each social media site are used to attract people from the cloud to your group, following, blog, landing page or some other feature specifically associated with your offer. However, drawing people to from the social media cloud is not the place to begin conversion. That is the place to begin building a relationship.

The Social Media Cloud to Customer Process

There is no one program for bringing people to your business which is where you have an opportunity to market your offer. Each social media site operates differently. We have spent thousand of hours testing various ways to use the major social media sites. We have a very good understanding of what works from the results we achieve.

We also have confirmed that there is significant time involved in setting this up properly and executing the daily tasks required to build and grow an effective network. The time is significant even with an effective process of in place of focusing on the most efficient tasks and using the leverage of automation and delegation. In addition, the landscape is dynamic which means that you must be alert for social media site changes that affect processes in place.

The time and processes required to build and maintain an effective network for attracting targeted people to your conversion cycle from the social media cloud is extensive. If you are intent on doing this yourself then focus your attention on two or three main sites. Realistically since building a social media network means doing certain tasks daily, focusing on more than two or three sites without an entire department or outsourcing this work is impractical.

The Benefits of Social Media Marketing

The first benefit of social media marketing is that the cloud is huge so your customers are there. Next, the more consistent you are in building your network, the easier it becomes to grow your network since there is a viral aspect. We see evidence of people building rather large followings and groups and enjoying the esteem that comes with the related popularity. That is certain one valid goal.

Our goal is monetization of the value we offer. We are a business and to remain in business, we must make a profit. The level of business success is measured by revenue and profit trends. For clients, we hold ourselves accountable for delivering a 100% return on investment in 30 to 90 days.

To be a client you must have a business that has a sales conversion cycle that is already working for a clearly defined target market. To achieve those results we measure and track all data from the network developed from the cloud all the way through conversion into a sale. Analysis is key if your focus is making money.

Foundation for Success

I have written articles about this, conducted training about this and led client projects focused on this. The this I am referring to is build traffic and convert it. With the numerous social media marketing opportunities, it is easy to take your eye of the ball of sales. When a customer says I’ll take it, that is a very valuable event. You then are responsible for delivering the value of what the customer has purchased and having in place the right customer service support structure for what you are selling.

If there are weaknesses in what you sell and in your support network, all the work you do in social media, Internet marketing, PPC, direct mail, direct sales and more is largely wasted. On the flip side of that, if the revenue cycle of your business is solid you will achieve a high return on you marketing dollar investment.

Next

In the next article in this series we will take a closer look at some of the features, benefits and pitfalls of specific social media sites. In the meantime, every day you spend thinking about this or trying to figure it out on your own, is a day where you are not optimizing your sales that are possible with social media. We suggest you get started now.

Email Me, Steve Pohlit to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Need more customers? Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

Steve Pohlit, The Profit Expert

Follow Me and I Follow You

How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less

Join My Fan Page on Facebook Click Here

FREE Report:

A Practical View of Business Plans

Published March 17, 2009

Recommending a business plans is often a starting point for many advisors and consultants. The challenge is that there are nearly as many recommendations on how to do a plan as their are advisors and consultants.

The single biggest issue with planning is the horizon. Many suggest a 3-5 year plan. If and when that gets done, the plan sits on the shelf in most cases.

I developed my consulting program specifically for the purpose of guiding companies on how to achieve extraordinary revenue and profit growth in a short period of time. Clients are taught to think in 12 month chunks and then roll that back to what has to be done this week to achieve it.

When you bring your targets, to what has to happen today, this week, this month that are required to achieve the 12 month goal and hold people accountable for achieving those interim results, amazing things happen.

In the process of doing this, a company must address what could derail the results. So the point of considering disasters is addressed, but you get there from a different direction. In my experience the top two potential disasters are sudden loss of a key person where there has been little or no backup planning and a company relying a great deal on one or a small number of customers for most of their business.

Exceptions:

Most of the time companies need to think in terms of how what is being accomplished today moves them closer to the goals they have established for twelve months out. In fact most of my work has been to show companies how to install and implement this discipline along with supporting processes of accountability.

There are some situations when longer term planning is required. These include companies where capital spending for equipment and possibly additional facilities is important. For the majority of businesses, negotiating financing or buying a company will require three to five year plans. Lenders will insist on it. While on that topic, there is always money for a good deal…always.

Summary:

Most of the time a business plan should be what you are intending for all in the business to be accomplishing in a reasonalbe time period. Again I usually think in terms of about a year and that year is always rolling. There must be some provision in the case of a sudden loss that would have a major impact.

As for the plan itself, I have found most companies do not challenge themselves to achieve their potential. Often the discussion is along the lines of “well our growth rate this year will be about 5% because that is what we seem to be able to do in times like this” I always ask the what if questions. What if the revenue and profit target was a growth rate of 30% in the next 90 days? How would you do that?

It is interesting what happens when you start asking for ideas…you get them.

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

Email Steve to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Need more customers? Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing, Internet Marketing and Direct Response Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.

Follow Me and I Follow You

http://Twitter.com/manifestmmind

http://Twitter.com/connectfriends

http://Twitter.com/socialmania

Join My Fan Page on Facebook Click Here

FREE Report:

How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less

Internet Marketing Tools That Are Great To Know

Published March 13, 2009

Click Here To Order or On One of The Pictures Below

If you have a website, blog or both you are
going to love these videos showing you basic
html and cpanel instructions.

Personally I have a fair amount of experience
with web sites, blogs, hosting and even have
done a number of training videos on Cpanel.
But this package which is only $4.95 is one I
couldn’t resist and I have already picked up a
number of valuable tips.

HTML Simplified for Beginners and Cpanel
Basics…

You’ll get a total of 36 videos that will SHOW
you step-by-step what to do and how to do it!

But be warned…

Since this is a Freaky Friday Sale, this crazy
price ends on Monday morning!

Don’t delay.

Click Here To Order or On One of The Pictures Below

To Your Success,

Steve Pohlit

The WSJ Reports On McDonalds. My Report On The Key Success Factors

Published March 10, 2009

McDonald’s is doing well in the current economic climate as reported by the WSJ and a lot of credit is given to the leadership of Ralph Averez, President. Readers have a number of reactions to this story including some not so flattering.

However the are a number of principles being followed by Mr. Alverez that are well worth paying attention to. These include:

“I love numbers,” Mr. Alvarez says. “I think data used well really tells a story.” He acts to create a continually improving story. For example, modifying menu offering and prices almost in real time. That is a great lesson.

He uses a baseball cap and sunglasses to disguise himself when visiting stores and testing food and service against the standards. There are two lessons here: one stay close to your customer’s experience and two, for awhile people who wear ballcaps and sunglasses and look like Mr. Alverez in disguise, may get outstanding service.

You don’t win and maintain customer loyalty by cutting the size of the serving. You eliminate all unnecessary costs and them some and keep focusing on increasing the value of the customer’s experience.

For the complete article Click Here.

My comments posted to this article on the site of the WSJ are republished now:

This is an excellent presentation by Janet Adamy. I really appreciate the statement “I love numbers,” Mr. Alvarez says. “I think data used well really tells a story.” He acts to create a continually improving story. That is a great lesson.

There is a huge opportunity for McDonald’s and others in using social media to increase sales and profits. I suspect that the large companies will turn to their marketing executives who will turn to their ad agencies and say let’s invest in social media. I recommend new thinking as social media is new landscape.

Steve Pohlit
http://stevereports.com

One reader suggests McDonald’s has got it all right. I think they are not in step with on line social media treads. This represents a huge opportunity for them.

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

Email Steve to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing, Internet Marketing and Direct Response Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.

Follow Me and Follow You

http://Twitter.com/manifestmmind

http://Twitter.com/connectfriends

http://Twitter.com/socialmania

FREE Report:

How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less

Summary of Twitter Trends and Benefits by Jeff Walker

Published March 8, 2009

http://www.twitter.com/JeffWalker

This email from Jeff Walker is an excellent summary of Twitter and is republished intact including all links. The only question is with over 7,500 followers why is Jeff only following 1% back? I really don’t see how not following people is in the spirit of social media. I welcome comments on this topic.

To The Point: Here is Jeff’s article which is very good.

You’ve probably heard of Twitter by now. It’s the

latest thing that all the cool kids are playing

with. :-)

And it’s also going to be an absolutely HUGE

business tool. In my opinion, we’re literally just

seeing the very tip of the iceberg.

I’ve actually been active on Twitter for almost

two years, and I’ve been watching it very

carefully during that time… it’s been evolving

VERY quickly, and the pace of that evolution just

keeps increasing.

(You can follow me on Twitter at this

link: http://www.twitter.com/JeffWalker )

So here’s what I’m seeing on Twitter right now…

Real world celebrities are showing up on Twitter.

One person that I’ve been watching is Lance

Armstrong (it’s a natural since I’m so into

bicycling)… Lance joined Twitter just a few

months ago, and he already has over 233,000

followers.

This summer when he races in the Tour

de France, I’m sure his Twitter updates will be

mentioned many times during coverage of the

race… and all of a sudden Twitter will hit the

mainstream.

I’m predicting that Lance will have over 1 million

followers by the end of July.

And other celebrities are already taking notice.

When they realize that they can build a following

that they can control directly (ie, they don’t

have to depend on mainstream media) AND that they

can monetize that following in various ways…

well, look out. We’ll soon have every movie star,

TV star, rock star, and athletic star on Twitter.

Naturally, all their fans will follow.

Are you starting to see why I think Twitter is

going to be huge?

Now a few important things:

1. Lots of people say they don’t “get” Twitter.

Maybe you’re one of them. I suggest you just go

ahead and sign up (it’s free), and then start

following a few people. You’ll catch on quickly.

2. It’s the functionality behind Twitter that’s

important… and will continue to be important.

Whether Twitter.com is the ultimate winner, or

whether some competitor comes along and beats

them, this type of site will be a long term

winner.

3. You want to stake out your spot on Twitter -

it’s clearly a viral tool. The bigger your

presence on Twitter, the faster your presence will

grow. So if you haven’t started building your

Twitter following, then start doing it RIGHT NOW.

4. There’s lots of self-appointed “Twitter Police”

out there that think they know how Twitter should

be used. The reality is that there’s a hundred

different ways to use Twitter… so experiment

with it until you find the way you want to use it.

5. There’s a TON of third-party sites and software

programs to use with Twitter. They can make the

site a lot more fun and useful.

The one that I think is most important and useful

is the search function at

http://search.twitter.com - you can use that to

track what people are saying about you, or your

company, or your competitors. It’s awesome,

instantaneous feedback.

6. If you want to get up to speed fast on Twitter,

you should check out TwitterPower… which is a

brand-new book by Joel Comm. You can get it at

Amazon.com at this link:

Twitter Power on Amazon

(By the way, that’s NOT an affiliate link.)

7. Remember… follow me on Twitter – I put up all

kinds of cool things there, including some insider

breaking news stuff. Here’s the link:

8. Oh yeah… Twitter can be very addicting. Try

to limit yourself to small doses. Set a timer when

you check Twitter – give yourself 5 or 10 minutes.

And don’t blame me if you get completely addicted.

best regards,

Jeff

Courtesy of Steve Pohlit

Follow Me and Follow You

http://Twitter.com/manifestmmind

http://Twitter.com/connectfriends

http://Twitter.com/socialmania

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less

Email Steve to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing, Internet Marketing and Direct Response Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.

FREE Report:

The WSJ Reports on Twitter and My Comment

Published March 7, 2009

http://twitter.com/stevepohlit
http://twitter.com/manifestmmind

My comments that follow relate to an article written by JULIA ANGWIN with the Wall Street Journal who discussed her experience and recommendation for Twitter:

I appreciate this article and Julia.

I recommend Twitter. In my business we set up every client with multiple Twitter accounts as an integral part of the marketing funnel. Twitter works because we use a “give value” model. This develops a relationship with our followers.

Several days ago I reached out to a lady who I have seen active on Twitter. She had posted a tweet about an upcoming event. I felt she might fit our client criteria and sent her a quick tweet. She immediately responded and a day later we had a conference call in place. At the start of the call we introduced ourselves and she said “OMG you guys are Manifest Mastermind. @mastermmind How cool is that! You’re the ones with the purple picture. I love your tweets. Thank you so much”

So that felt really good and offered us credibility for a related venture we were proposing. We are now in the final stages of a client agreement which will be very good for her as well as for us.

I didn’t see it mentioned by Julia or in the comments. Personally I would not be without Tweet Deck. It allows you to easily follow up to 10 people or niche markets at once. Awesome! Having said that, my number one tool is http://TwitPwr.com/TweetL

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less

Email Steve to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing, Internet Marketing and Direct Response Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.

FREE Report:

Motivational, Inspirational, Sensual

Published March 6, 2009

Turn up the volume and enjoy.

The 5 Finger Plan For Outrageous Business Profits

Published March 4, 2009

The 5 Pillars of A Successful Business

What happens when you apply the 80:20 rule to the activities required for any business to operate?

Extraordinary Profits

A Positive, Low Stress Working Environment

Continual Increases In Revenue and Profits At A Rate That Far Outpaces Your Competition

How do you achieve these goals? Well just take a look at how most companies are run and don’t do what they do. People in most companies spend the majority of their time on activities that have little or no impact on building revenue and profits. Let’s review the components of how to solve this.

First there are only five (5) areas of business that need your attention. Hold out your hand and look at your fingers and thumb – 5. Now follow with me on this because I am not in a room with you to reinforce the point. Hold out your hand and assign each of the (5) pillars as follows:

1.Sales – thumb
2.Gross Margin – index finger
3.Expenses – your “flip em” finger
4.Working Capital – next finger
5.Employees – pinky

80% of your time as an owner or CEO should be spent on these 5 pillars and 80% of the 80% should be spent on Sales and Gross Margin – the first two. When you spend the majority of your time on marketing the right balance of products and services that bring you optimum sales volume and gross margin, you can expect:

Recruiting and retaining the best people is easy,
Liquidity is abundant, and
If any area of expense begins to be out of balance, it doesn’t hurt much while you are bringing it back in line.

Recently I met with a friend who has a professional service that has a healthy price point. Consider the economy is reported to be as week as it has been in 10 years, I asked him if he was feeling any impact. He told his next opening was two months out. Then he hired my company to bring him more targeted prospects. He has alway had a marketing focus the entire 15 years I have known him and he business does well every year. Repeat he has a continual focus on the marketing funnel and is working it all the time.

Spend 80% of your time on Sales and Gross Margin. An alternative is to have a credible firm drive targeted prospects to your business.

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less

Email Steve to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing, Internet Marketing and Direct Response Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.

FREE Report:

The WSJ Advises Pres. Obama on Using The Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Published March 1, 2009

By LIAM DENNING writing for The Wall Street Journal

“Unlike some of the other black holes into which Washington pours money these days, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s value is grasped easily. If needed, it could replace about 44% of daily U.S. oil imports for more than five months.”

In summary, Pres. Obama is considering tapping this reserve to stabilize gasoline prices. Liam correctly points out in this article that the use of SPR for managing prices can easily have an effect that is opposite of what is intended.

My comments on this are brief:

Great article Liam!

The operative phrase is “Strategic Petroleum Reserve” The strategy is to protect the best interests of the country in the event of a very unusual emergency. Fluctuating market prices do not fall within that definition.

So now what do you think?

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance