Why not…deliver your product or service in more convenient ways for customers. Try drive-thrus like Starbucks, try delivering by email instead of postal or UPS/Fedex, try all-in-one invoice with product with all use/support documentation, try automatic helpful email hints on use/application including before date of delivery.  Try what your competitors haven’t done.  Want some ideas?  Just ask your customers! — Please provide your comment below to add to these ideas!

Over the next ten weeks, we’ll provide a weekly quick idea for improving business success.  These will be short and to the point, always asking “what if” you tried this, or “why not” try this.  Hope these ideas improve your business throughout 2010.  Very best, Kraig — Oh, almost forgot:  please feel free and even always encouraged to add your comments below.

The Great Recovery…yes, you can up-shift in this upturn!  We’re in the “recovery” phase, well mostly – YAY!  How about some ideas on being the best in the great-but-slow-recovery that’s enticing us all?  Here are some of the consulting involvements I’ve done over the past eight-to-ten months with clients to improve their businesses – I’m hoping these will encourage you to pursue avenues you might have avoided or discounted due to the economic decline:

             + Continued to coach a CEO with 30%⁺ growth per year over past five years.

            + Improved sales of a client through key indicator tracking and focus.

            + Influenced/counseled highly profitable growth in 2009 for a small lender.

            + Guided borrowing process to get a client over $10 million of new financing.

+ Re-focused a management team on accountability to sustain growth.

            + Encouraged/supported a completed acquisition (!) for geographic growth.

            + Guided a family-business in calming a compensation/working crisis.

            + Coached a world-leading entertainment business on successful next steps.

            + Presented management ideas to a top promotional products company.

            + Helped a group of Canadian companies take substantial success steps now.

            + Conducted three webinars for success responses to the recession/recovery.

            + Delivered 129 talks to CEO/Management/Industry groups in 370 industries.

            + Facilitated three strategic plans to successful implementation.

            + Provided half-a-dozen businesses with customized tools for profit improvement.  

Again, hope these trigger an area or direction you might pursue right now for improved success!  Quite often we think things can’t be done, just because we haven’t in the past or because of economic or market conditions…it’s just not so!  With very best wishes, Kraig