Financial Opportunity Amid the Chaos

Twice in the past week I was in meetings where there was actual optimism about the economic future in Texas. As the saying goes, "Fear overcomes greed, and certainty overcomes fear." Regardless of political persuasion, having a fixed political team in place in Washington who have passed economic legislation is having a positive affect on local industry. Little by little, the known is overcoming the unknown, and this is allowing people to plan and move forward - especially leaders in industry.

Right now, the refinance boom - though not a great thing usually for the housing industry - is getting money flowing through the economy. Interest rates are unbelievable right now for buying houses. Prices are very low for industrial goods like cement and steel.Producers, those who have traditionally moved the economy in a positive direction, are once again seeing the opportunities in the midst of crisis, and see a narrow window in which to move forward before inflation looms over us -- at which time their strategies will change, but not their initiative in finding opportunity.

BusinessWeek author Ben Steverman wrote, in A Changed World for Financial Advisers on February 11, 2009, about the lessons learned by financial advisers through the past couple of years. In the article, the ideas to better protect and plan for clients get tied up in the debate between actively managing portfolios versus "buy-and-hold" strategies, which are less expensive and acknowledge the difficulty of timing due to the unpredictability of markets.

The article's bottom line gets back to three basics:
• risk assessment,
• emphasizing cash flow, and
• a wholistic approach to nest-egg building.

Mr. Steverman says advisers have found they should spend much more time with each client to determine an appropriate level of risk, often in spite of clients who calculate their risk-tolerance level as being higher than it actually is, especially in a downturn in the markets. He says that investment advisers are also going to have to pay more than lip service to their responsibility for their clients' total financial outlook, rather than just investment returns. Regarding retirement dreams, Steverman says that, "advisers can help clients make sure they are earning enough, saving enough, not borrowing too much, have realistic retirement plans, and have enough insurance."

I’d love to talk with you and help you navigate the options, so you can get on with the life you’d love to build. Send me a note about what you are looking for. Call me … 214-440-2483.

Advisory Groups - Seeing Through a New Window

I just read an excellent tactical description of how to initiate an advisory group by family business expert Ernesto Poza in "A Burst of Fresh Air published October/November 2007 in BusinessWeek's SmallBiz. This should be standard operations, not only for a family business--which he recommends it for, but for ANY organization.

Poza recommends an outside board for new perspective and direction in business and operations. However, having an advisory panel for any product or brand now is so easy, and should be required before initiating any new product or promotional initiative. Producers and designers--even though they may use the product--cannot represent the market perspective because of their stake in the product and brand. Ongoing feedback is critical from both buyers and partners in getting products through the sales funnel.

I have been involved in building advisory groups with channel partners (producers, publishers, distributors) and buyer groups. These panels were both tangible and virtual--correspondence was everything from occasional phone calls and letters, to an opt-in for a monthly questionnaire (with trackable and analyzable response data via the internet) as we rolled toward a new product line.

Incentives for participation have been proven of less importance to other considerations, such as targeting and simplicity. This is especially the case in situations where those participating understand they will have a hand in designing a product that ultimately will serve their peers and customer group interests better. They are making a positive difference in an area that matters to them. This is similar to those willing to rate products and services online for free-- they want better products and services--as well as to demonstrate their expertise. You will usually get as participants those who are very satisfied, or very unsatisfied, or the outspoken "influencers", but those are the ones that will make a difference in how well the product launch goes.

Though there are many ways to develop a virtual advisory panel and surveys, one interactive marketing company, Greystone, provides a good step-by-step strategy for producing these online surveys. In my personal experience, in one case, we sent an email invitation to participate to those with demonstrated product or brand interest, who had been previously characterized as leaders in the target group through other online and personal interactions. We got about a 30% opt-in response rate, ending up with just over 100 members of the panel. Our first questionnaire further characterized the panel, to help us judge the responses. Because of the questionnaire design, we were able to aggregate the responses to see trends and to remove outlying data, but were also able to look at specific responses to get more detail, and follow-up specifically if necessary. Our second survey gathered attitude, interest, and opinion data that would help us relate their responses to certain target buyer groups. The following surveys got more and more specific to product design or product line information, which was used to adjust the product before production and distribution.

With these types of advisory boards, not only do you have insight to more effective company operations, but also, more successful product launches. When the new product rolls out, not only has the product idea already been tested against consumer and distributor perspectives, but there is built-in ownership for the success of the product all the way down the channel.

Why Blog?

I 've heard a lot of negatives on blogging by people who, honestly, aren't very involved in interactive online communications. I think they are really missing out.

Blogging is one method of gaining an online presence if you set up your own web log, but also is a way to connect with anyone else in the world on any subject to get an answer - whether you have your own or not. It is a way to reach out to get referrals and advice - very much like on LinkedIn. It can be one-way discussion - and also the beginning of very dynamic communications.

Before I had my own blog, I used technical and other interest group blogs to find solutions. For example, we needed a better answer to how we managed our online commerce - we were getting many online distribution outlets, none of which followed the same branding for our materials, and all of which were independently and separately managed by our product and web teams to be sure each of their commerce pages had the latest information to display.

By searching the blogs for an answer, I was referred to John Keunen in Amsterdam, owner of TIE Commerce, who analyzed my situation (through email and Skype calls) and showed me his business could solve our problems, then connected me with a senior sales person in the U.S., Mark Rideneau, who was geographically closer to my company.

As I said before, Debbie Weil is a great reference for getting started in and maintaining effective business blogging. And, frankly, so are most of the major business resources and journals out there - take for example the recent article in BusinessWeek...Blogging Will Change Your Business

So, tell me again, why aren't you blogging?