Category: Business

In November 2004, talk radio host Tom Martino picked up the phone on his consumer-advice show. Unhappy Washington state resident Melissa Feroglia was calling to complain about a jet ski she had purchased in Boring, Oregon at John and Susan Gardner’s Mount Hood Polaris. Unfortunately for the Gardners, Martino’s show was nationally syndicated.

Feroglia told Martino that her jet ski had broken down again and again. According to Feroglia, John Gardner had first promised to refund her money, but had then said that her ski jet was fixed and there would be no refund. Feroglia concluded her woes by telling Martino that at that point the weather was too cold. She would have to wait until spring to try out her jet ski.

Martino, in the flip and annoying way of many talk show hosts who could not be bothered with the facts, then told Feroglia that Gardner was lying to her. Martino and Martino’s producer continued the saga by telling us of a cycle we are all far too familiar with: Calling the shop, being told to contact the manufacturer, contacting the manufacturer, and being told to call the shop again. We don’t know if their tale was true or not.

We do know that Martino said, “Polaris sucks.” The situation further spiraled out of control as Martino encouraged his listeners to contact Mount Hood Polaris and the manufacturer and tell them that they would never again buy any Polaris products.

John and Susan Gardner sued after their phone lines were flooded and they were threatened. The Gardner’s lawsuit stated that people driving by the store for several weeks shouted insults and the store lost approximately $600,000 in business. A judge dismissed their suit and in April a federal appeals court upheld the dismissal. According to the federal appeals court, this was basically not slander because reasonable talk show listeners do not expect facts on talk shows like Martino’s, just opinions. Without facts, there cannot be slander.

In the eyes of the law, any damage to the Gardners’ business and reputation was due to Martino’s opinion, not to any false fact or facts. Given that this damage could not have been caused by reasonable talk show listeners, the Gardners have no recourse. No law protects businesses from talk show hosts who urge unreasonable talk show listeners to damage the business.

Tom Martino has more critics than just the Gardners. His critics are concerned by the “Troubleshooter Referral List,” a list of businesses that Martino endorses. A business can join Martino’s list by paying a $3,000 fee and agreeing to a code of ethics. This code includes agreeing to let Martino decide disputes with consumers and follow his decisions. Martino also personally endorses business products and services on the air for payment. Critics question Tom Martino’s being a creditable consumer advocate due to the very substantial fees he earns from his endorsements.

Martino apparently enjoys both sides of the street. He appears to profit as an entertainer masquerading as a consumer advocate. He also appears to profit as a businessperson selling endorsements that appear to make him a pseudo consumer advocate. Unfortunately, his audience does not appear to notice that he is a pseudo consumer advocate. He is not the real thing.

Perhaps some day we will have a law that holds talk radio hosts liable for inflaming audiences that can reasonably be expected to cause damage. Until then, businesses savaged by Tom Martino will continue to occur damages, both justified and unjustified. In the final analysis, we have no idea if the Gardners were fine upstanding business people or not. We don’t know anything about their business practices. We can definitely state that it would have required some very bad business practices for $600,000.00 in damages to have been a fair penalty. We can conclude two things from this: We need laws to handle situations like this and we need to watch out for Tom Martino and other talk show hosts like him.

Many business owners operate under the false assumption that marketing consultants are only affordable for larger companies. In truth, there are many benefits to hiring a small business marketing consultant, as outlined below.
What Marketing Consultants Do
First, here’s a look at just what a small business marketing consultant does for organizations:
Overall business evaluation. It’s hard for new business owners to evaluate their young organizations. A small business marketing consultant can pull from years of business experience to assess the weaknesses and strengths of a fledgling business.
Strategic planning. Business consultants must have:
1. A strong educational record in business.
2. Extensive experience as a business leader.
3. Exceptional understanding of how business trends work.
These features allow consultants to provide suggestions on how a business can succeed. After learning about an organization and identifying major opportunities and obstacles, a small business marketing consultant should be able to create a strategic plan to lead the firm to success.
Marketing design. Chances are your small business marketing consultant can write excellent ad copy to draw in new customers. Beyond designing small business marketing strategies, consultants can construct complete marketing campaigns. From graphic design to copywriting and editing, a small business consultant can wear many different hats while helping your business succeed.
Project and process management. The consulting lifestyle appeals to many leaders in the business world. Indeed, most small business consultants are top business performers who have decided to shift to a different way of life. This means small business consultants usually have project management and process design skills, which they can employ to improve your business’s performance.
How Small Businesses Benefit
Now that we’ve reviewed just what a small business marketing consultant does, let’s explore the benefits of hiring such consultants:
A fresh perspective. Contracting with a consultant as one of your small business marketing strategies will bring you an unbiased, fresh perspective. Internal conflicts and ongoing office politics can limit one’s vision. Outside consultants are free of preconceived ideas about your business, so they can provide a fresh perspective.
High-quality help. As mentioned earlier, most business consultants have transitioned to consultancy from a star-studded business career. In other words, you’ll likely receive top-shelf advice from your consultant – and for less than the cost of a single employee.
Peace of mind. Partnering with a small business marketing consultant can help you feel calm and confident about the future of your business. With peace of mind, you can better focus on your organization’s core offerings and drawing in new business.
Cost and time efficiency. You get great bang for your buck when you hire a small business marketing consultant. Since most marketing strategy planning consultants charge hourly rates, you avoid paying employee-related taxes by hiring them. Moreover, consultants are experienced, versatile professionals capable of handling everything from social media to long-term strategic planning. Rather than bringing in a new crew of writers, marketers, project managers and designers, you can pay a trusted advisor on an as-needed basis. Hiring a small business marketing consultant maximizes cost-efficiency.
Clearly, there are multiple benefits to partnering with a small business marketing consultant. From creating comprehensive small business marketing strategies to performing overall business check-ups, marketing consultants can help your company shine.

Copyright 2006 Logical Writing Solutions, Inc

What is success? The answer to that question is both personal and institutional for those of us who work in the business world. In essence, success is the ability to accomplish the task at hand. Technically, it is “to achieve one’s aim to prosper”.

You need thriving business relationships to prosper. In fact, we can measure much of our business success in terms of the viability of business relationships. Relationship health is directly affected by the quality of communication. Use the following steps to achieve communication success and to strengthen your critical business relationships.

Step 1: Identify a few communication weaknesses.

Can you think of any communication challenges that you face? It’s time to brainstorm and quickly make a written list.

Here are a few questions to get you thinking about your own communication challenges: * Are your employees happy and satisfied? * Are your clients glad to provide referrals? * Are your partners and stakeholders well-informed and confident? * Do you feel motivated and inspired? * Do your conversations flow?

As you review the bulleted list above and consider your communication challenges, identify each challenge but don’t get bogged down with other details.

Step 2: Decide to address the most bothersome communication weakness.

This choice is yours to make. However, whatever challenge you choose, you will find that the other relationships are naturally strengthened as you develop proactive and positive communication skills. You do not have to fix everything at once in order to benefit from this exercise!

Now that you have selected your challenge, it’s time to stop and think about what makes it so challenging. In other words, if success was easy you wouldn’t be working on this right now. Many leadership or business management challenges are a result of busy-ness. Leaders don’t realize that others need communication that is: * Professional * Complete * Positive * Concise, and * Wholly relevant without any irrelevance

If you are a leader or a manager, communication is your job. People expect you to do it and do it well. The responsibility for communicating is yours. It would be literally impossible for others to compensate for your poor attention to communication.

In spite of the advice of gurus world-wide, there seems to be a reluctance to buy into this idea. We all want to believe that we can just do our jobs well and receive the kudos. We want to believe that we are responsible for our own success. The truth of the matter is that most of us will be hindered, more or less, when we ignore communication or become passive.

Communication may not come naturally, and you may need to work on it. Communication brings power to your professional and personal life. Critical relationships can thrive with your attention.

To gain an understanding of how to resolve the weakness, you need to look at your communication patterns. You will develop communication that is regular and has flow. Communication, however, is not just about giving out messages. Communication is listening and speaking, receiving messages and conveying messages. Typically, listening is the thing that gets us into trouble. We don’t do it.

Step 3: Listen to others for a week.

I know you’re grumbling! Is a week really necessary? Yes. We’re not just talking about passive listening either; you will ingeniously create opportunities for listening. Listening must be practiced, and acting on incomplete information may be more harmful than doing nothing.

Consider how long you have been without the power of listening, and realize that a week is a small price to pay. While you are listening, you are reserving judgment and allowing the answers to come to you. Others often already know where the problem lies. They may even have ideas as to how you can fix the problem. Active listening requires practice, so be patient.

You may politely and nonchalantly ask for input during this time, but keep things casual and neutral by not being too intense and by refusing to form or give your opinion. This gives others the freedom to develop their thoughts and express them without disagreeing with you. Be sure to take notes on potential solutions.

Step 4: Define success and the benefits in this area.

After a week, you will probably have many ideas about how you could move forward. First, take a moment to define your ideal outcome. This is your defined target. You may not feel that you can make the mark on the first try. However, you need to choose to believe that success is possible and likely, and that you will have a reasonably positive response to your efforts. Your attitude affects your motivation and your outcome.

In addition, think about what benefits you hope to achieve. How would life or business be better as a result of your desired outcome?

You are painting the picture of what you’d like to see. For example, “Our clients know that we value their relationship as well as their business. We don’t tell them this; we show them. Every call is answered in a polite manner. Each concern is personally addressed. We listen when they speak. We thank them for their input. We keep them informed of new products and company news. We are considerate in our pricing. We thank them for each purchase. In return, they have no interest in checking out other providers, and they remain loyal in spite of the efforts of our strong competitors. We have steady growth in our revenue.”

Step 5: Make your proactive communication plan, being sure to establish checkpoints.

This plan will come out of your definition of success and your listening activities. Some examples of proactive communication would be providing customer service seminars for your employees, taking on a visible role that reaffirms your commitment to personal service, starting a service blog discussing best practices, scheduling individual meetings to check in with employees, or establishing standards of excellence and rewarding employees who excel or improve. Notice that these items are not remedial. You are not resolving past problems, but establishing a firm foundation for the future.

Also notice that you would choose one activity to plan. For example, if you choose to focus on a customer service seminar, you will define the necessary tasks and place those tasks in your planner. Choose your communication activity based upon whether you need a long-term or short-term effort. Also, consider the availability of resources and plan accordingly.

You may have to practice needed skills. For instance, if you are planning to present a customer service seminar yourself instead of outsourcing, you may need to schedule time to develop your presentation skills. If you are nervous about your skills in an area, practice those skills until you become calmly confident.

Step 6: Implement your plan.

Implement your plan, keeping your ideal outcome in mind as you go. Review checkpoints frequently to ensure that you are on track. Involve others in the plans when possible, or have an accountability partner. As things fall into place, you may be surprised at how well everything is going! Once your activity is complete or the communication fix is in place, it’s time to take a realistic look at what you’ve accomplished.

Step 7: Evaluate the results.

Congratulations! How did you do? If you look at your definition from Step 4, you will be reminded of the gains have you have achieved. You may also note unforeseen obstacles that you overcame. Remember to thank those who helped you along the way, and make sure to reward yourself for your efforts.

Now you’ve seen the power of communication at work. Communicating will become easy (or easier) as you go through the 7 Steps to Business Communication Success again. Communication is the key to your success.

The saying that history repeats itself isn’t just a saying, it is actually true. It is true in politics, families, and even business. That is why it is so important to study the past when planning for the future. Business management research will allow companies to make educated decisions about what steps to take based on how the past played out in similar situations. Business management research and IT research will turn up facts that are amazingly accurate when applied to current situations and business decisions. In fact, that’s why business research even exists because good managers know in certain business situations there are only so many outcomes and instead of just making a guess, actually basing a decision on how the past played out is smart and generally a good move.

Of course, IT research and business management research have other benefits, too. They can help companies determine whether they should apply for a loan for a new product, whether a particular process is not working properly, or if customer needs are not being met. Research allows a company to learn more about a product, process, or the like. However, there are types of research that are helpful and there are others that are a waste of time.

Focused Research

The first thing that should be done is determine the focus of the research. When business management or IT research is focused then it will result in more effective research at a lower cost. Of course, the type of research that is needed will be affected by a couple of factors. For example, if you want breadth of IT research then you won’t be getting the details. On the other hand, if you want detailed business management research then you won’t be getting breadth. That’s the way research goes. Similarly, if there is a specific product or aspect of a product that needs to be examined then this research will be very detailed while other aspects will be skimmed over.

There are many things that must be considered when it comes to conducting research because the point is to find out enough information to make an educated decision on a particular business action. One question that should be considered is what is the research goal? This means that you should know more or less why you are doing the research up front in order to determine if you are finding the right information. Another question would be who you are performing the research for. If you are researching for bankers or lawyers your focus is likely to be different than if you are researching for potential customers or upper management.

The great thing about business management research is that you can perform it yourself with the help of historical research reports, or you can outsource it. What is important is that the research be done well and properly so that it is actually viable and helpful in making decisions that will guide the future of the company.

Entrepreneur, founder of Vizagrecruits better known as VR” in the corporate circle. This small business consulting company in Visakhapatnam has been backed with a team having skills & expertise in various functional areas like HR, Sales, Marketing, etc & having working with several Industry verticals like FMCG, Education, IT, Telecom, etc.

I myself have been associated with a Sales Background, working out with several Multinational companies before starting of a number of small businesses myself & becoming a successful entrepreneur. Now we have started providing consultation to several start-up entrepreneurs like you who wish Setting up Business in Visakhapatnam.

If you are a first time visitor to this blog and interested in setting up a Business in Visakhapatnam, then there is plenty of “FREE” information here that will help you. If you are planning to become an Entrepreneur, then Vizagrecruits is here to help. The benefits you will receive are well worth your investment on us.

We have been offering online and on-site business consulting to interested clients. We are covering every step for successful setting up a business in Visakhapatnam or Setting up a business anywhere. We also help start-up companies in Visakhapatnam Setting up a marketing department or setting up a HR department, Promoting your Business online. VR gives you what you need.

Having your own business of course gives you the power to working on your own timings, get free from bosses or other constraints that are faced being an employee. That is the why we all love being an Entrepreneur.

In the road for starting and setting up a business in Visakhapatnam, there will be a need of a Guide such as a Business Consultant who can act like a Mentor or friend to support you in reaching your destination. VR can be your trusted Mentor & provide solutions to all your business problems ensuring that your business keeps growing. So, thanks for visiting us and have a great Entrepreneurial journey.

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