Business Plan

I had a great meeting with the CEO of one of our client companies today. The meeting was to review the progress the company was making toward their business plan and financial projections. Now that we're half way through the year and June's financial statements are closed, it's a great time to dive deeper than we normally do on a monthly basis to see how things are shaping up.

We spend time asking lots of questions. Was our market forecasting correct? How effective has the new product positioning been? How do we see the last half of the year shaping up? Are there ways for us to improve the financial performance of the company? Are customers paying in a timely fashion? How can we improve cash flow? We ask these and lots of other questions to identify ways to improve the company's results.

But let me back up for a minute. The reason that we're able to compare actual results to their budget is because we created the business plan and projections in the fourth quarter of 2009. You know the old adage, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." Running your business is much the same. Taking the time to work through key strategic planning elements can go a long way to putting you on the right road. Executing the plan and monitoring your results can keep you there.

Remember a while back when we addressed the value of walking a mile in someone else's shoes to gain fresh perspectives that might help you run your business better? Well, it appears some CEOs have actually done this - as a recent Fortune piece highlights. The participants, Maxine Clark (founder and CEO of publicly held Build-a-Bear) and Kip Tendell (cofounder and CEO of the privately held Container Store).

And yes, just as we anticipated, these retail veterans found they gained a great deal from the experience. Spending time in someone else's realm, dealing with their daily challenges shook things up and while dealing with employee issues, product questions and in-store management issues, they found themselves continually stumbling across ideas and inspiration that they could incorporate into their own operations.

Here's a peek at a few of their takeaways:

Clark, for instance, appreciated how the Container Store acknowledges sales associates for a job well done with Post-It notes left on lockers. Kendell, meanwhile, liked Build-a-Bear's "Strive for Five" technique, which is designed to sell each customer five items. (via MarketingProfs.com)

True leaders know that real ideas must come from a variety of experiences, sometimes you need to take on something completely new to move to another level. Innovation comes from so many places, from crazy situations to mundane tasks, maybe even, from spending time working in a different industry.

To me, the above insight is part of the beauty and value that our Indianapolis consulting services team here at Milestone Advisors brings to our clients. We have worked in a variety of industries, been tasked with an array of projects. Outsourcing bookkeeping, we've done that. Providing market research forecasting for a new business plan or endeavor, we've done that too. What about building a technology architecture to streamline a company's work flow and make them more efficient? Been there. With or staff's diverse backgrounds, we've done it all which better equips us to advise and inspire. What can we do for you and your operations?

A recent Wall Street Journal piece addressed the rapid growth of women-owned business -- they have started twice the amount of businesses as men and their growth has swelled during one of the bleakest economic times in America's history.

Yet, the article quickly qualifies that information, "So, it is dismaying to see that, despite all this progress, on average, women-owned business are still small compared with businesses owned by men. And while the gap has narrowed, as of 2008—the latest year for which numbers are available—the average revenues of majority women-owned businesses were still only 27% of the average of majority men-owned businesses."

Interesting, isn't it? What do you think causes this disparity?

Some will say women don't have the 'killer instinct' men do when it comes to making deals or that, by nature, they're too empathetic to make the difficult decisions necessary for businesses to shed extra weight and sauced. Do you buy that explanation? I certainly don't and it truly has nothing to do with my being a woman :)

The WSJ writer, who happens to be a woman herself, offers this explanation.

"I am convinced that the problem is twofold. First, you have women's own self-limiting views of themselves, their businesses and the opportunities available to them. But equally problematic are the stereotypes, perceptions and expectations of business and government leaders."

Now, I'm not sure I buy the first reason. Most of the women I talk with and read who are in business have no different view of themselves or their operations than the men whose brains I pick. I believe to most women, business is business and their differences they see as advantages or differing perspectives, nothing more. I also think most women business owners have ambitious goals, my reasoning being that a woman who desires to start and run their own business is already shedding years of stereotypes and taking on a world they know is dominated by the other sex. If anything, I think these women may even be more ambitious than many men, most of whom are expected to work in the professional world and who are seen in traditional roles of management.

However, I think her latter explanation, that of stereotypes in business and government makes much more sense. The article asserts that training available for women entrepreneurs, such as courses at community colleges etc. is far more focused on the initial phases of beginning an operation and often leaves out planning for growth or making projections for the future.

She also asserts that women have less access to funds and capital -- I could see this holding true. This can cause entry into markets that are cheaper to get into but more difficult to remain in, let alone grow. Seeing a theme here? It's all about growth. You have to envision it, build plans around it. It has to be a fame of mind. Women may be cheated out of the opportunity to grow because of our preconceived notions of how we believe they will do, never giving them a chance to show us what they believe they're capable of.

What do you think contributes to these stereotypes and how can we break them?

A baking company offers employees English lessons and sees an increase in efficiency. An apparel company gives hourly workers incentive -- the more clothes they produce, the more they get paid. Guess what, productivity picked up. Offering employees a little something extra, particularly workers further down on the ladder, can go a long way.

You can read the full article here. It is a simple concept and we've addressed the issue before. Incorporating incentives or regular, creative ways of encouraging and rewarding employees into your business plan or business strategy is necessary to breed goodwill and keep people producing efficiently.

You can do this in a variety of ways:

- build a bonus structure
- adjust your time off policies, perhaps summer hours or one Monday a month off
- plan company bonding events, nice dinners, cocktail hours, bowling (you would be surprised how far efforts like this go)
- institute an employee of the month program, recognize the winner publicly and provide a small gift
- free gym memberships

There are many more ideas but some type of program to keep your employees happy and healthy may extend the life of your business.

We discuss the importance of blogging and social media quite often. It should be a part of everyone's business plan and an even greater part of your company's marketing strategy. And while you can appoint one key person to handle the load, it's important you have diverse voices coming from all areas and levels of your company so the average reader gets a comprehensive look at your operations.

Yet explaining the importance of blogging, making sure others understand it and are willing (maybe even excited) to participate isn't easy. You should be prepared for it to be a long process, one in which you will need to be patient and regularly follow up with people. I have been charged with implementing a social media strategy here at Milestone Advisors and encouraging others to take part so we provide well-rounded information on all of our specialties (which include marketing, technology, outsourced bookkeeping and much more).

Here are some suggestions that might make the process a bit easier for you that I have learned through trial and error:

1. Take time to explain and be sure participating members truly understand the value of social media, what it means to your company, your customers and more.

2. Explain the technical aspects of the platform you're using. You will surprised at how many people don't adapt quickly to different software products. Carving time out to walk people through the steps, leading by example will save you time in the long run

3. Do some creative brainstorming as a group. Just explaining what blogging is and how to do it isn't enough. And leaving it at that can lead to your team members sitting in front of their computers with question marks in their brains and blank stares on their faces. Helping them talk through subjects they can write about a few times will help them to easily develop story ideas on their own.

4. Send them some examples of blogs you really like, whether that's because they are well-written, tackle pertinent subjects or are just fun -- giving your team examples will also aid in inspiration.

5. Continue to provide encouragement. You're asking your team to step out of their comfort zones and do something for the good of the company as a whole. A confident financial advisor or marketing strategy pro may be nervous about sharing their thoughts in an open forum like a blog, check in regularly with words of advice, tips or positive feedback. It will go a long way

Company blogs aren't easy to get off of the ground and they're not easy to maintain but I will say, they are more than worth the effort. They enable you to connect with like-minded businesses, leaders, enhance your brand and maybe, sell a little!

Last night I was cleaning my house and found May's issue of Fortune under a pile of other magazines and notebooks (I live with someone in law school). And, excited as if I had found a little treasure I hadn't planned on receiving, I cracked it open. I also ended up reading far more than I had intended due to the great writing and topic selection at Fortune (if you don't have a subscription, you should).

A great feature in the month's issue is a profile featuring Steve Greenberg, son of the infamous Hammerin Hank of Major League Baseball. Steve did play ball for a while, but his knowledge of the game combined with his education (Hotchkiss, Yale and then UCLA) made him an asset for the front office of many sports teams, player union negotiations and other sports business deals.

He's created TV networks including CSN which sold to ESPN for $175 million and one we might be familiar with here in the Midwest, the Big Ten Network. He's helped Jerry Reinsdorf (owner of the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bulls) and Ted Leonisis (owner of Washington Wizards and Washington Senators) structure deals to buy teams, property and more networks. He was even the voice of reason during the 1990 MLB player lockout. Quite a list of achievements.

But what I take away from the article is more related to the manner in which he's achieved these things. Yes, his father is famous, his upbringing is what may would call privileged and he has always been well-connected. It seems that his success at innovation comes from his nature. He is described as quiet, incredibly honest, calm, resourceful and much more. He inspires confidence and trust upon a first meeting and while he's a great businessman, no one has used the word aggressive (a quality that can turn people off during business deals).

He gets clients what they want and need by putting himself in the shoes of people on BOTH sides of a deal. In the words of his clients...

"He seems to be everywhere. He is preternaturally, embarrassingly charming. "Immensely attractive as a human being," says Herbert Allen Jr. "Able to get good results without making enemies," says Reinsdorf. "Always keeps his cool," says Wilpon. "Incredibly knowledgeable and connected," says Jim Delany, commissioner of the Big 10 Conference. (Greenberg made a cable network for him too.)"

I personally find Steve Greenberg to be quietly and calmly inspiring. He doesn't make me want to go out and act immediately, he makes me want to extremely cerebral about the needs of my company and its clients, to listen more than I talk and provide people with what they need so I become a go-to resource. What does his story make you want to do?

Somewhere along the line, direct marketing has become a whole lot less expensive and unfortunately, more thoughtless. Perhaps this happened when all of us "marketers" shifted much of our outbound messaging to email, blogs and eMarketing. It's easy, it's quick, it's affordable and most of all we can get some great metrics. Ah, every marketers dream.... instant access to data. We can see when our message was delivered, when you opened it, how many times you looked at it, if you clicked on any links, forwarded it to someone else, a conversion rate and on and on. 

Blogging is a fantastic business medium. It can be molded to any cause or purpose, put a human face on your company, help build relationships with customers and make important information available immediately to large groups of people.

We've also discussed that encouraging your own team members or employees is a great way to fill a blog with rich content, different perspectives and infuse personality. And it should be a part of your business strategy to reach customers. However, empowering employees to put personal thoughts on your company website would give any leader pause.

There is always a chance that they could disclose confidential information -- it's easy to get lines crossed concerning things that are discussed in the office but shouldn't go any further than the front door. And, as much as we hope it never happens, unhappy employees sometimes choose to vent or air frustrations in public forums.

So, how do you give employees ownership of this social medium and ensure that your trust isn't violated?

1. Create a governing policy
Guidelines reign people in well and can be pointed to when there are small mis-steps giving you something to reference when discussing what is expected of all your bloggers.

2. Make it clear what should and should not be included
It's okay to tell people what they can and can't write about. It's also okay to extend the agreement to their personal blogs, if they want to participate at all, they have to agree to terms for both.

3. Learn from those who have gone before
Plenty of companies both small and extremely large invite employees to participate on corporate blogs and have create social media policies to govern their participation. Their guidelines are readily available online, when creating yours, see what some of the most successful companies have done.

A social media policy can save you a lot of frustration, time and money should someone abuse the forum. Incorporating a policy into your company's business plan, marketing strategy or strategic hr plan can only benefit operations.

Microsoft launched the Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 this week. I attended a Microsoft launch event and found the integration with SharePoint on-line services to be a nice upgrade to the current Microsoft on-line services. The on-line services upgrade is scheduled to be available sometime in the 3rd quarter, but the office 2010 product also includes some useful outlook and office integration features.

I have included a useful comparison document found at the following Microsoft link: go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9690494

Milestone Advisors can assist you further analyze the Microsoft product launch by looking at your business strategy and technology plan.

Jack Stack believes the economic recovery is under way. In fact, he asserts it has been for quite some time. He then warns - if you don't have a business strategy or business plan developed and in place to take advantage of the upswing, you may miss it completely.

It may be difficult to believe, particularly in our tiny worlds where we still hear about small businesses struggling for capital or individuals losing their jobs. So, where does Stack get this perception from and what evidence is he using to support it?

"I’ve been speaking eyeball-to-eyeball with entrepreneurs all across the country — in places like Pittsburgh, New York City, Richmond, Va. and Fresno, Calif. — and when I ask them how they did in the fourth quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010, I keep getting responses like, “amazing,” “fantastic,” “record-breaking” and even “best we’ve done in years.”

Yet it seems we're all a little afraid of admitting things might be getting better. Maybe for fear the the worst is yet to come, just as we've allowed ourselves to breathe easy.

But there is firm evidence pointing to companies around the country once again experiencing growth. Stack uses his own company as example, SRC. He admits he had spent so much time reflecting on the economic collapse that when portions of his operations were experiencing new growth, he missed it completely.

Another sign he claims to see -- an increase in lead times, the period ordering something and actually receiving it. This means more and more orders which means more money being spent. Can we get two huge thumbs up for that.

"If you’re still not convinced, do some research of your own. Ask your customers and peers how they’re doing (and tell us in the comment section below how you’re doing). Do your own eyeball-to-eyeball research. Just as importantly, start putting together a strategy to take advantage of the recovery whenever you believe it’s going to hit. If you keep looking in the rear-view mirror and forget to look at what’s headed your way, not only might you miss a golden opportunity to build your business, you might just give your competitors the chance to move ahead of you or, worse, to eat your lunch right out of your hands."

We'd love to hear what you're seeing, hearing and experiencing yourself that either confirms Stack's assertion or proves it wrong. Please share, do you think we're in the midst of recovery? What evidence do you have that supports your claim?

Depending on your answers this might be the perfect time to initiate buying a business that supplements current operations, compiling new financial projections or rebuilding your financial model for the improving economy or to begin the product launch plan you put off when the bottom dropped out of the market. Any way you look at it, it may be time for action!

That time has arrived. Ambitious college students abound, hitting the mall for dress clothes, making a sincere effort to enjoy the taste of coffee and heading off to a nine to five -- all to gain a few lines on their resumes. Yep, we're talking about internships. What used to be an optional form of summer employment has now become a requirement if one hopes to get a job opportunity immediately upon graduating from college.

Internships are not only a great resource for students themselves but also serve a purpose for the companies who offer the programs. They are exposed to the talent and imaginations of a variety of young, fresh minds -- a valuable resource.

How do you manage interns? A good question as there are different parameters for this type of arrangement than there are for new employees. Inc. Magazine has some tips and tricks into best practices when dealing with an internship program.

1. Know what you want
In order for either party to get anything out of the experience, you must have clearly communicated your needs and expectations for your intern. This way they will have every opportunity to produce results for you and they, in turn, will learn.

2. Provide for your interns
From menial tasks to the really big opportunities. Interns should be required to deal with PowerPoint presentations and Excel sheets as well as delivering actual presentations to senior members of your team, providing them a well-rounded experience. You should also give them resources to use after their time with you is through such as connections to professional networking organizations.

3. Provide mentorship and advice
Part of the value in having an internship is derived from the intangibles, things we are exposed to when entering the working world on a daily basis. They can sit in classes and hear about how things work all day long but nothing compares to the knowledge gained from actually being in a given situation or environment. Make sure your employees make themselves available for interns to pick their brains and ask for advice.

You can find the entire article here. I think companies and the interns themselves both benefit from these programs. It is simply important that internships are built into your business strategy or business plan and serve a clear purpose in which some area, marketing strategy, technology, etc. benefits and that you have the time and resources to be sure the participating student benefits.

It's true! They have a 95% success rate. I didn't believe it either at first. Yet it's an assertion backed up by a wealth of statistics.

A 2009 report by Elizabethtown College sociology professor Donald Kraybill. Studying several Amish settlements, Kraybill found failure rates ranging from 2.6% and 4.2%; interviews with loan officers, accountants and industry professions in other Amish regions yielded additional anecdotal evidence of closure rates significantly south of 10%.

How do they do it? The answer is rooted in their culture. In Amish communities, nothing is more emphasized or promoted than hard work. That ethic permeates not only daily chores but the companies they form, own and operate. The Amish also stress the importance of cooperation, relying on others' strengths where you may encounter your own weaknesses. And we're not talking about the kind of collaboration that takes place online, which so many of us rely on daily for business purposes. We're talking about face to face communication and team building that centers around tangible activities and challenges that can unite participants and capitalize on an individuals' best attributes.

Another defining aspect, Amish business owners have a solid understanding of their capabilities and more importantly, the things they excel at. They know what they're good at and don't try to push into realms they may not be skilled in. This inspires something corporations are constantly trying to garner: trust and loyalty of consumers.

It doesn't hurt that the Amish tend to demonstrate humility, a quality that allows good leaders to grow into even better ones.

Many Amish businesses demonstrate great knowledge of business strategy and the accompanying concepts. They build strategies around concrete ideas, incorporate humility into marketing strategy plans and much more. Read the entire article here.

What can you do to be more like the Amish? How can you incorporate their culture into your company's culture or your business strategy?

If you're in charge of increasing public exposure and enhancing the brand image for your company, there are some basics when it comes to social media that you must know, fully understand and put into action. They are simple concepts that won't take much time or effort to wrap your mind around, however, their effective implementation may take a bit longer.

Simple Truth #1
It's your duty to learn how existing and new tools can help your clients or your company. No excuses.

Simple Truth #2
Use and learn new Social Media tools before your clients or executives do. What is an expert? Frequently, it’s someone who just has a jump on the information.

Simple Truth #3
As you learn about a new social media platform or tool, sign up and try for a minimum of 30 days. You may find that it has little use for you personally but it may be a useful channel for your brand or clients to engage stakeholders and customers.

Simple Truth #4
Take some time to reevaluate your personal usage of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and any other platforms.

Simple Truth #5
You should be asking, what's next? One word, DIGITAL.

Once you take the time to research the foundation of each truth you will better understand how to use social media for yourself, your company or your clients. In-depth understanding of these concepts ensures effective implementation of all things social in your strategic business plan or marketing strategy.

Here at Milestone Advisors we advise businesses concerning almost every aspect of running a company. We consult on product marketing plans, financial market forecasting, writing business plans to attract potential investors or simply taking a look at someone's books to see if they could benefit from outsourced bookkeeping.

Recently, there has been a shift in the tools we recommend for marketing strategies. Social media has come out of the blue and now dominates most marketing and business strategy tactics. One of these mediums, Facebook, a social networking site, has become a hotbed for not simply B2C outreach but B2B as well.

In his most recent column, Fortune's Stanley Bing asks if this platform does society more harm than good. Even if you still plan on using the site as part of your social media strategy it's prudent to be aware of all the uses of Facebook as well as the different opinions being voiced about it.

He writes about Facebook as a place where the ugliest aspects of our worst high school nightmares come to life and fears that the worst perpetrators in this online environment will enter the business world and do immeasurable damage.

"In teaching social networking, virtual presence, aggressive electronic messaging and cold-blooded manipulation of group dynamics, Facebook is preparing young people to thrive in business life, particularly on the executive level. I’m just not sure it’s a future office space that I would want to live in."

What do you think? Is this a business world you want to live in? What can be done?

I don't eat mayo on anything - I'm a mustard girl all the way, spicy mustard more specifically. Mayo has always grossed me out. It's not about the calories, after all, when one consumes either mayo or mustard a large beef patty with cheese is typically involved as well. To me, mayo just looks like it immediately clogs arteries. To Jerry Murrell, founder of Five Guys Burgers and Fries, mayo is an essential part of his business philosophy.

When selecting all of the ingredients to be used in his burger chains, Jerry and his four sons (hence the name) tasted 16 different brands of mayonnaise. Now THAT is the kind of commitment to quality that provides for future success. Jerry serves only the highest quality ingredients, regardless of cost to the company. Using fresh instead of frozen meat not only costs Jerry, it costs his customers. The result? They don't care. Sales for 2009 topped out at $483 million. People would rather pay more for burgers made from the best that taste great.

It is Jerry's unwavering dedication to making sure his products taste good, his employees are treated well and his stores are clean that has launched Five Guys into the world of franchising that actually works.

Jerry simply knows how things should be done and doesn't compromise, something every small business owner should pay attention to whether they're just formulating their business plan or business strategy or they are preparing for a new product positioning. What aspect of the business are you passionate about? How do you believe things should be done? Take advice from others, yes, but stay true to your vision. Even if it requires you ingest far more mayo in one sitting than is natural.

What's one thing you have been committed to since starting your business or just starting your career? For more insight from Jerry Murrell, check out Inc. Magazine's 'How I Did It' piece highlighting one of the best burger chains ever.

As the Inc. piece points out, the freedom of not having to answer to shareholders, a board of directors or hundreds of employees can be a benefit of family operations. However, those closest to you are dependent on your success for their own success. For some, that means even more pressure. The best way to handle this situation is to...

"Keep solid books. By incorporating basic financial tools used by other businesses, including balance sheets and income statements that are prepared regularly for distribution among family members. By sharing and analyzing financial data, you can make your business more predictable, and thus more stable. If no one in the family has a knack for financial analysis, establish a relationship with an outside accountant. Over the long term, strong financial will be an absolutely essential tool."

Not only do you make profits and income more predictable, you avoid conflict that can arise when there are mistakes in bookkeeping or accounting that can cost you and other family members money.

Be sure to have those formal meetings we discussed earlier so your planning and strategy is clearly defined and everyone who wants to be a part of it, is a part of it. And don't be afraid to be formal. Heck, this is your company and being in business is a serious thing. Draft agendas, set firm times to begin the meeting and adjourn it. You will be more productive with the way you as well as others, use that time.

When your business is part of the family, family cannot always come first. By putting business first sometimes, you are actually putting family first.

And last but not least, while planning is key for the future. Be sure to always have awareness of the present and operate, both in terms of business and your role within your family, in the sense of today.

Yesterday we addressed the importance of planning in the very beginning of a business. Equally essential to survival is ensuring that every family member who is contributing clearly understands not only what their role is to be moving forward, but also what all other family members' roles are. I think this can also be associated with transparency. In family business, everyone has to be aware of everything, there are no secrets.

Before assigning roles to specific people, first define the roles themselves -- actually write job descriptions. Then begin having discussions as to who best fits the requirements for each position. An expert in the Inc. article also suggests planning formal business meetings to avoid utilizing actual family time as company time. This will blur the lines and lead to confusion and conflict down the road. Don't let the dinner table double as a conference table!

When working on the roles themselves, don't think of the family members first. View the job descriptions and requirements as entirely separate from the family members who will be involved in the the immediate future as well as down the road. Do you want those involved in the business to have a college education? If so, you have to make this a clear requirement from the very beginning.

Setting guidelines for some type of employment policy as a part of a great strategic HR plan will go a long way in avoiding discrepancies in the future. Take the time to define standards for compensation, time off, performance and reviews.

The Inc. article stresses defining compensation over everything else and it makes sense. Money can be the root of all problems for small or family owner businesses.

In his book, The Survival Guide for Business Families, Gerald Le Van stresses the importance of fair compensation. Reasonable benefits should come "along with an understanding of money, it's meaning, its potential, its limits, what is involved in making, spending and saving money…" There is a relationship between money and self-esteem, he notes, and as the manager of a family business, that's something you need to be cognizant of nurturing.

Let's start today's post off with a statistic. Did you know that less than 30% of family businesses survive being passed to the second generation and only 10% make it through third generation ownership? What do you think is the source of such volatility? I think maybe these low percentages are due to a lack of planning in general, the more things that are forecasted, anticipated and made clear from the very initial stages of a business -- the more successful it will be.

We all know how important business plans or business plan strategies are to making sure operations flow smoothly. However, when dealing with a family operation, it's not as simple as drafting those basic documents, clear, concise agreements must be drafted and detailed roles assigned to family members who will be part of the company.

A section in the Inc. article points out:

"The families that are really smart about it, that set up rules, are typically the families who do not fall apart and end up never talking to each other again," Stein says. "Setting up rules when you are getting along can save years of heartache - even if you just set up a rough framework."

Rules are the best way to manage emotions that will certainly come into play when working side by side with family members as well as having your livelihood wrapped up in this work. It's also important to nail down what all those involved are hoping to get out of the experience other than make a living. Some things to discuss are:

- What is everyone involved hoping to achieve?
- What do they NOT want it to become?
- What are their highest hopes for the operation as well as your lowest expectation?
- How do they want to work together and structure operations?

Talk is the main takeaway here. Getting everything out in the open from the very beginning, putting it all on paper and signing it will provide a foundation for good communication down the road.

Email has come quite a long way. It is a vital component of our everyday business dealings and often, the lifeline of communication between either our clients or our customers. Some would call email, the most essential business tool we have in both terms of strategy and tactics.

While email used to be what the email marketing industry terms as 'one-to-one' communication, it has blossomed into 'one-to-many' or 'one-and-back'. Those marketers who understand the transformation of email as a communication tactic that can gain new customers, keep other loyal and lure old ones back - also understand it is now a tool of conversation and must be seen as such.

iMedia Connection recently detailed ten ways that email marketing has changed since it was first identified as part of any savvy marketer's arsenal. The article then highlights ways in which businesses can adapt to the changes and utilize public perception of the communication medium, connecting with them in a way that respects their preferences and ultimately leads to profitability.

Some of the fundamental changes are detailed below.

1. Acquisition is important, but retention is where the money is
The article asserts that people view their email inboxes as different from their actual mailboxes. It's more personal and companies need to ask for permission to be there. People should have the power of choice in subscribing to be a part of your communications. And if you can get them to buy in, you have to spend the time and resources in making them stay. Developing loyal customers is what will ultimately lead to increased business.

2. Email is all about the conversation again
If you're tuned into any social media sites or are keyed into the scene at all, you're aware that to truly engage clients or customers you must first 'join a conversation' before expecting something in return for your activity. This means providing information of value or commenting on things other industry experts are saying. Soon, you will develop loyal 'listeners' who appreciate your participation and are more proned to buy from you, or at least become familiar with who you are.

3. A marketer can't claim success until it's measured the right way
A good marketer will also measure the success of any email marketing efforts you may be invested in. But they should also be mining that data for other reasons, not just to determine if people are opening or reading the email. There is simply so much data available now, a lot of conclusions can be drawn from subscriptions, click through rates, opens, conversions and unsubscribes. And these conclusions should be incorporated as future tactics in any marketing strategy plan or marketing plan process.

The article contains many beneficial insights -- all of which should be analyzed as a way to incorporate email marketing into your business plan in an intelligent and proactive way that will allow true connection to those who matter most to your company.

When I say 'small stuff' I'm referring to rules, regulations -- the technical things that tend not to cross our minds throughout the course of our routine days. Today particularly, with so many businesses facing financial strain they don't have the time, resources or staff to pay particular attention to federal and state compliance policies (which are subject to what seems like almost constant change).

But these seemingly small details are of the utmost importance to ensure your operations are in compliance with these things. While they seem like, the "small stuff", if you plan to grow your business, hire, offer incentives to keep your star performers -- you must be aware of changes in regulations all of the time.

We realize not everyone can have an internal HR manager to keep tabs on these types of issues. For this, outsourced HR or having a strategic HR plan that includes an outside consultant can allow you to tap knowledgeable people who are experts in this area, bulletproofing your business and its practices from harm.

Being unaware of federal regulations and changes in them can result in drastic consequences for your business. A business plan for any small business should be sure to include some type of strategic hr plan so these important facets aren't overlooked.