771_ Put money into advertising your product, your position
The keynote speaker at the January ACG Denver meeting was Alan Beaulieu, president of the Institute for TrendReseasrch. Larry was anxious to hear Alan's opinions regarding the economic recovery and asked about some of the business trends coming. Alan replied, "Let's start out with the largest 'sustainable recovery', two words that everyone wants to hear. This is not a sugar high, this is a sustainable, cyclical recovery. But it will be mild. It will be a slow turn. Unemployment is problematic; the banking crisis isn't going away over night." Larry went on, "What are some of the things organizations can do to deal with the recovery?" Alan emphasized, "The first thing I would do is to make sure they know what their competitive advantages are. They have to be sharp, clear, known throughout the company and then spend money promoting them so that the few customers that are out there have a compelling reason to buy your service or buy your product. So that you're not lost in the herd. Start spending money promoting yourself and what you do. Get ready for an improvement. A lot of firms have been hunkered down for so long that they're slow to start thinking. Get over yesterday, start thinking about what we're going to need to bring people in; the competitive advantages; and how we're going to meet the need; quick delivery, quality delivery, well trained people. Put money into advertising the product, the position; put money into everything you need to do get ready for even marginally busier times because that will flow right to your bottom line." They went onto discuss challenges, the timing of M&As and advice for entrepreneurs...
Related Links: Institute for TrendReseasrch || ACG Denver || M&A Channel || Rocky Mountain Corporate Growth Conference || Keywords: Alan Beaulieu, Institute for TrendReseasrch, ACG Denver, Association for Corporate Growth, Trends, Economic Recovery, M&A, Entrepreneurs > Channel: ACG 4910140 bytes 1/11/10 LISTEN to Alan Beaulieu

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Related Links: ACG Denver || Mergers & Acquisitions || 12/15/08

783_ Communication rules in a bumpy economy 2/1/2010
In an article that appeared in cobiz.com Sherry Law, founder of Evergreen Communication wrote about, "The counterintuitive communicator: How to make the Great Recession a mere blip in your company history." The article really caught Larry's attention so he pursued an interview with her. Larry asked, "What does communication have to do with managing through the recession?" Sherry explains in detail and there are three primary benefits, "Productivity, retention and ultimately performance." She went onto explain, "If your best employees are satisfied and loyal, and not just marking time, you’ll be way ahead of your competition during the recession and long after. Communication will help generate the high levels of employee engagement and performance you need to recover from the mess we’re in. Employees need clear, transparent, frequent communication about what your company is doing in these extraordinary times, and how and why. Following are three tips that may be counter to your intuition, but help ensure your company’s continued success. Counterintuitive Tip #1: Express your feelings along with the facts; you’ll show strength. Conventional wisdom dictates that when CEOs and other leaders reveal their personal feelings it’s a sign of weakness. Don’t believe it. Counterintuitive Tip #2: Don’t hype or spin the message. Tell it straight. In an effort to “protect” employees or to keep from de-motivating them, well-intentioned leaders put a positive “spin” on news. This results in exactly the opposite of what is intended. Counterintuitive Tip#3: Communicate even if you don’t have all the information yet. Certainty doesn’t exist. Remember a time when you’ve sat on a plane waiting, and waiting, for it to take off. No word from the pilot, and the flight attendants have no information about the delay. How productive were you while you waited for information? Not very. Listen for more...
Related Links: Evergreen Communication || Colorado Biz Article || ACG Denver || M&A Channel || Rocky Mountain Corporate Growth Conference || Keywords: Sherry Law, Evergreen Communication, Communication, CObiz, Economy, Productivity, Retention, Performance, ACG Denver, Counterintuitive Communicator > Channel: ACG/Entrepreneurs 8543547 bytes - 2/1/10 LISTEN to Sherry Law, Evergreen Communications

752_ Managing Beyond the Recovery: New Realities, New Rules and New Values
"What we're seeing is that there will be a reset, what some executives call a reset with this economy. And at some point we are going to see a new normal. Some major economists think that what we will see, going forward over the next several years, a lower growth US economy with higher levels of unemployment, a weaker dollar, higher taxes, bigger government spend and I think also some concern about whether we will have a higher rate of inflation going forward," said Grant Ruesch. Grant is the Operational Co-Chair of the ACG Denver Rocky Mountain Capital Growth Conference for 2010 and he also serves as chair of the content committee. The theme is a very important element for us and we began thinking about right after finishing last year's conference. We came up with the theme called "Managing Beyond the Recovery: New Realities, New Rules and New Values." Grant went onto point out, "It is a very important time as we recover from the most serious recession since World War II, with the kind of structural imbalances that we have to really figure out what it's going to be like going forward. Right now the signals are mixed - there are signs we are beginning to lift out of the deep recession but there are also some troubling remnants of the economic contraction that indicate a slow recovery in terms of job creation and the resumption of consumer spending which drives economic activity. These indicators include: a distressed commercial real-estate market; high unemployment; stalled consumer spending; lack of business confidence to support new capital investment; lack of investor confidence; a political and policy environment that is very difficult to discern." The answers and the experts will be at the 2010 ACG Denver Rocky Mountain Capital Growth Conference on March 17 & 18, 2010. We'll be there...Managing Beyond the Recovery: New Realities, New Rules and New Values... Learn more...
Related Links: ACG Denver Rocky Mountain Capital Growth Conference || ACG Denver || M&A Channel || 3/11/09 Photos || 3/12/09 Photos || Keywords: ACG, ACG Denver Rocky Mountain Capital Growth Conference, Grant Ruesch, Managing Beyond the Recovery: New Realities, New Rules and New Values > Channel: ACG 9605262 bytes 12/7/09 LISTEN