Target, Sell & Profit… A Great Learning Opportunity
July 19th, 2011 // 2:28 pm @ John D. Laslavic
ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Special Event: B.Y.O.B – Business Owners & Executive Series
That’s right! B.Y.O.B.! Think it is too early in the morning for that? It is never too early (or too late) to improve your business.
The Build Your Own Business Workshop will feature three of the area’s most experienced and successful business professionals
ThistleSea Marketing & Communications Intern
who will present you with the tools you need to effectively target, sell, and profit in today’s market.
Education is such an important part of successfully running a company. Many of you graduated with degrees from well-respected business programs at schools such as Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, other great schools and my alma mater, Penn State. You graduated and your education was complete; you had all of the knowledge needed to succeed in the real world, right? The truth is that the most successful business people are the ones who never stop learning.
A classroom-style environment will provide an excellent setting for you and other business professionals to learn things your professors DID NOT teach you in school. While they taught you to be a professional, we have to strive to be successful!
- Our first Workshop Professor, John D. Laslavic, LPBC – President, ThistleSea Business Development – will guide you through ways to lead a more profitable company, better understand the relationship between marketing and sales, and measure your Marketing Return-On-Investment.
- Our second Workshop Professor, Larry Lewis – President, Client Builder Sales & Marketing – will provide you with ways to generate more leads, make more sales, and manage your sales team more effectively.
- Our third Workshop Professor, Chris Maas – Vice President, Insight Marketing Solutions – will show you how to create a larger web presence, turn Fans, Followers, and Connections into revenue, and learn the TRUE capabilities of Social Media and search engine optimization.
Are you a Business Owner or Not-for-Profit Executive? You can learn and benefit!
Are you a Marketing or Sales Executive? You can learn and benefit!
Are you a Website or Social Media Coordinator? You can learn and benefit!
Responsible for all three! YOU BETTER BE HERE!
The workshop is only a month away so sign up now! Seating is limited to the first 35 registrants! The price is $299. Sign up by July 28 for $100 off!
Date: Thursday, August 11
Time: 8:30am – 12:00pm
Location:The Pine Professional Building – Keller Williams Classroom
11279 Perry Highway, Suite 300
Wexford, PA 15090
Act today by registering in 3 convenient ways:
REGISTRATION FORM – TARGET, SELL & PROFIT
- Call: 888.625.2477
- Email registration to BYOBregisternow@gmail.com
- FAX 925.848.3266
Can’t wait that long to improve your business? Give the experienced Pittsburgh & Tri-State Area Licensed Professional Business Coaches at ThistleSea Business Development a call today at (724) 935-1930 or email us at info@thistlesea.com. Ask for John or Wendy!
Are you delivering great customer experiences time and time again?
July 9th, 2011 // 4:25 pm @ John D. Laslavic
By John D. Laslavic, LPBC, Business Coach / President, ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Common sense tells us that every business needs customers. The service your customers expect from you, your employees and your company in providing a consistent product or service that meets their requirements and fulfills their needs will determine if you gain repeat business and garner more referrals, right. Well almost right!
Your customer service might be underperforming if you answer YES to any of these questions:
- Are your employees underperforming and cast in the wrong jobs?
- Do your managers and employees have little or no feeling of real success?
- Does your team feel underappreciated?
- Is your training inconsistent or non-existent?
- Is your company void of industry or the adoption of business best practices?
Sad to say, customer service is not enough today to win a customer’s repeat business or their referrals for your business. For you and your business to earn a customer’s repeat business today, you must look beyond just delivering great products and services. Today, you must provide customers with a great customer experience.
According to the recent studies, 60% to 80% of customers who say they are satisfied with a company’s product or service find that alone is not enough to get them to return and to obtain their repeat business. So, in addition to offering a great product or service, you must build experiences that create loyal customers and that gain you loyal raving fans.
Where does it start? It starts with your leadership. Your leadership as an owner in creating a culture and the environment by setting a strong example that your employees can follow and your customers can understand. It starts with you, the leader, communicating a strong, compelling and exciting vision that serves all employees, stakeholders and customers. It involves you as the leader serving your employees well and each of them serving each other well. That’s right; it starts with employees serving each other well.
If you’re a manufacturer, professional firm, service company, not-for-profit, retailer or any other type of business, consider this carefully. Below is an article that was recently prepared for the Western PA Hospital News. This article talks about a customer experience of a recent, actual example of one medical practice with one patient.
Check out this article:
Is Good “CARE” Still Good Business?
Could this type of situation happen in your company? Could you or your team drop the ball and lose focus on actually why you are there? If so, what actions are you taking to prevent these types of situations from happening? Do you know where to start?
A customer base that builds and returns is build through great customer experiences. To have those experiences, you must be intentional. Have you established the environment and are you building the systems that will lead you to inspire and astound your customers time and time again?
If you want to work on or learn more about building a business system that delivers a great customer experience time and time again, we are here to assist you. Give ThistleSea Business Development, LLC a call at (724) 935-1930 or email us at info@thistlesea.com.
“Two” Big to Fail in Health Care?
June 21st, 2011 // 11:11 pm @ John D. Laslavic
ThistleSea selected as “Featured Business Thought Leader” for WPA Hospital News.
The business of health care continues to be one of the most important areas with a complex variety of issues facing our medical, acute & not-acute care providers, our communities, local, state and national government.
John D. Laslavic, LPBC, President, ThistleSea Business Development, LLC was recently selected to be one of the “Featured Business Thought Leaders”, for the Western Pennsylvania Hospital News by Harvey Kart, editor / owner of the this important regional hospital, medical and health care publication.
You can see John’s first article: “Two” Big to Fail in Health Care?
Category : Blog
Selling Your Business
August 3rd, 2010 // 1:33 am @ John D. Laslavic
Exit Planning – Cost of Doing Nothing!
By: Tony McDaniel, CPA, CBI, BSN is the president of Allied Business Consultants
Most businesses simply do not sell. And for those business owners who successfully sell their company, to either an external third party buyer or internally to family members or key employees, most do so without proper exit planning. Under either exit scenario, the cost to the owner is often significant when compared to the benefits of implementing a successful exit strategy.
Without an exit strategy, the owner typically sells for too little…..by as much as 30% to 40% according to some industry statistics. Additionally, when selling the business internally to family members or key employees, the cash component to the owner at closing is substantially lower than when selling to a third party buyer.
Real costs to business owners who do not properly plan for the exit of their business include the following:
- Sale Price is often lower…..by as much as 30% to 40%
- Cash at closing to the owner is often substantially less
- Likelihood of actually selling is significantly reduced. Industry statistics show that only 10% to 30% of businesses on the market at any point in time actually sell.
- Pay more in income and estate taxes
- Owner does not control the exit process….the buyer does
- Personal and financial goals are not achieved
- Becomes a burden to the family if the owner dies
- Privacy and confidentiality can be difficult to maintain
The key to avoid or minimize the above costs is to be pro-active. Do not be a statistic. It is estimated that up to 70% of all privately held companies will transfer ownership over the next 5 – 10 years. If you are a business owner, then your business will probably fall into this statistic. If so, now is the time to take action!
Our business enhancement services are a key component to successful exit plans. Our experts are skilled in providing guidance on increasing your annual revenues and minimizing your annual expenses. The end result is an improved annual bottom line profit by as much as 100% – 200% and in turn, a substantially higher sale price for your company.
As a business owner, not only will you benefit, but your family will also benefit from your pro-active actions. You will also greatly diminish the likelihood of being a statistic of forfeiting substantial money when you exit your business. Please call us today to discuss your unique and individual objectives.
About the author: Tony McDaniel, CPA, CBI, BSN is the president of Allied Business Consultants serving Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. Tony is a Business Sales Expert focusing on assisting owners of small to medium sized privately owned companies exit their business. In addition to his 18 years of mergers and acquisitions experience, Tony previously practiced public accounting for 10 years, including prior employment with Ernst & Whinney, a Big 8 public accounting firm. Tony can be reached at 412-377-0500 or tmcdaniel@ABCbizsales.com. All discussions are kept strictly confidential.
(c) 2010 all rights reserved; ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Category : Blog &Featured &Uncategorized