The lyrics of country music songs speak about life, its joys, its hardships and everything in between.  But have you ever thought about how country music can be a model for how to run a better business?

Now I’m not talking about how the guy who lost his pick up truck and his dog ran away.  Or the woman who’s done everything for her man and he did her wrong.  Those are just great country songs that tell a story.

And I’m not talking about the famous country singer who, in real life, trusted his/her manager and then ended up bankrupt either.  Though that would probably be a business lesson in and of itself!

I’m talking about how country singers work at the business of country music and remain popular with fans for years.  Country music stars relate to their audience.  The fans feel comfortable with these people enough to invite them into their homes, if they could. 

What’s unique about country singers is that they are consistent with their image and their song.  They tour constantly.  Country entertainers always find multiple venues to stay in front of their audience.  Many attend the annual CMA Music Festival, formerly known as Fan Fair in Nashville every year in June, which is simply a big convention of country music fans. (I just checked the official website, www.cmafest.com and the top ticket tiers are already sold out more than seven months in advance!  That’s a dedicated fan base!)  Not only do they perform at concerts held around the city of Nashville but also spend time in autograph booths so they can meet the fans up close and personal. 

What can we, as business people, learn from the country music industry?  Plenty.

Get a following.  Be consistent. Continue to deliver the message.  Work hard, give them what they want, keep your name in front of the customer, relate to your audience and don’t take anything for granted.  Keep working at it every single day.  And then, start over and do it again and again and again and again.

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Coming in the spring of 2009 will be weekly podcasts with Howard talking about business, current events and observations of everyday life.  Howard always has something interesting to say about business.

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It use to be that simply being in business was enough to make a profit.  Now the competition is so great only the strong survive.

Strong doesn’t mean physically strong.  It means emotionally, mentally strong.  It means being educated on your business and industry.  It means communicating with your employees and your customers.  And it means being prepared and ready each business day.  No matter what is happening in the economic marketplace.

You read about how only the strong survive every day in the sports section of your favorite newspaper or internet news site. 

Business is similar to sports.  You have to anticipate the unknown and be prepared for anything. 

For example, NASCAR.  Driver Jimmy Johnson and crew chief, Chad Knaus, recently won their third Sprint Cup title which puts them both in a very elite NASCAR group that few achieve in their careers.  Jimmy and Chad are quickly becoming NASCAR legends in their own time. 

The racing teams know that the smallest mistake can send the driver and his car into the wall.  A moment’s hesitation and the car behind you will pass your vehicle to win the race. Timing is everything.  To handle a racing car takes skill that is only acquired through practice, practice, practice, knowing every nut and bolt in the vehicle and how the racing machine responds on every track under every condition.

Do you anticipate what can happen in your business?  Do you continue to train and educate your employees - and yourself?  Do you expect your employees to be the best they can be or do you expect them to just show up everyday?  Do you expect the same of yourself?

As the CEO, president or business owner, are you as determined as Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knaus?  Or are you just going through the motions as you drive down the business highway every day? 

Business today requires a high response level to every aspect of your business.  You need to give more than ever before in order for your business to succeed. 

Business is tough right now.  And it may get tougher before this economic downturn is over and business is on the upswing again. Only the strong are going to survive.

So if you haven’t already, start today to take your business from mediocrity and just motoring along to crossing the finish line as a winner.

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For a few hours each evening, Monday thru Friday, Bruce Williams has a call-in radio talk show and answers a variety of questions for his listeners.  His business and finance knowledge is vast.  If you get the chance, go to his website, www.brucewilliams.com, and find out where you can tune him in on the dial.  You’ll become a listener just because of all the knowledge Bruce shares.

One of the business scenarios, you may hear, on Bruce’s radio show goes something like this:  Someone calls into his show with a question that indicates they are not truly committed to their business.  They have one foot in and one foot out.  They are not willing to risk it all.  Bruce always gives a great deal of invaluable information but one of the things he consistently says that I remember and live by is:

WHEN YOU’RE IN BUSINESS, IF YOU WANT TO SUCCEED, YOU NEED TO BE WILLING TO RISK IT ALL.

This doesn’t mean that you take foolish gambles and you do stupid things.  It means you have to be totally committed to your business.  Work your business every single day with the attitude everything is at risk and you can’t fail.  If you want success, you need to put it all on the line, carefully examining every decision and going for success.  Especially in these difficult, challenging business times this advice continues to ring true.

Thanks, Bruce, for all the wonderful business information you have given throughout the years.

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One of my favorite pages in the book is page 48.  Here is an excerpt:

“But what do I do with the negativity I have?” asked George.

Joy pointed to the trash bucket.  “Right there, George.  You let it go.  You release it.  You throw it out. You transform it.  When the work is piled high on your desk, think about how thankful you are to even have a job while so many are unemployed.  When work is driving you crazy, think about the fact that you are healthy enough to work.  When you are sitting in traffic, be thankful you can drive a car while so many have to walk miles just to get clean water.  When the restaurant messes up your meal, think about how many unfed mouths there are in the world.  As I told my father a number of years ago when he lost the love of his life - my mother, ‘You had the kind of love for so many years that many people spend a lifetime searching for and never find.  Let’s be thankful for that.’”

Joy added, “Where there is a negative there is always a positive.  When there is a dark cloud, there is always a sun shining behind it.”

“So you are saying that I need to keep fueling my life with positive energy if I want to be successful.” George asked.

“I’m not saying it,” Joy answered.  “I’m screaming it!  I have found that where there is a void, negativity will fill it so we must keep fueling up with positive energy so the negative energy doesn’t have room to expand.  We must fuel up daily with positive thoughts, cultivate positive feelings, and take positive actions.  Positive energy is all of these things.  Without it your ride will stall.”

As you know, we are living through extraordinary times in our daily lives as well as in business.  It’s easy to go negative with all that is happening around us. 

As a business leader you need to lead your people to positivity by showing them the example of how it is done.  You may even get a few copies of this book and have your key management people read it and teach the concept to everyone they are responsible for.

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All businesses that pay their taxes on a calendar year will want to be in contact with their accountants.  It’s the time of year to sit down with your accountant, review the business year and plan your tax strategy. 

Many businesses make the mistake of waiting till the very end of the year or beginning of the new year to plan their tax strategy.  Then it is too late and businesses end up paying more taxes than they need to. 

Your accountant is a valuable advisor to the business and should be able to advise you how best to file your taxes in order to pay the least possible amount the tax law permits.  

There is a great deal of talk these days about raising taxes.  We all know exactly where the tax burden is going to fall - on the business community.  As a CEO, company president or business owner, you want to ask your accountant to keep an eye on the political situation and inform you of any tax changes the new administration makes which will directly impact your business.  In addition to federal tax obligations, stay up-to-date with state and local taxes too as they continually change - especially now with many state and local governments looking for ways to fund projects in this troubled economy. 

We certainly want to make sure that everything we are doing is in compliance with the law but certainly we want our accountant to take advantage of every legal deduction available.

Remember it’s not how much money you make.  It’s how much money you keep.

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They think they are doing something that will save the business and make it prosper.  But in reality, it just often digs a bigger, gaping hole.

Here are a two examples. 

On Monday, November 10^th, Circuit City, long rumored to be for sale, announced filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection - one week after releasing news of closing 155 stores out of 700 nationwide and laying off an additional 17% of its workforce.

Let’s briefly review what brought Circuit City to the brink of going-out-of-business.

Last year Circuit City came up with the non-brilliant idea to get rid of all commission sales people. This seemed like a good idea to those at corporate headquarters in Richmond, Va.  Cut the payroll.  Reduce expenses.  Make a profit???

The only problem was the minimum wage people they hired had no motivation to sell their product and didn’t have the knowledge to sell the product or the customer!  So what did the customer do?  They went to Circuit City’s direct competitor, Best Buy, whose employees did have the product knowledge and service standards to help the customer and make the sale.  Or the customer went to Wal-Mart for price reasons.  Circuit City seriously reduced their payroll.  But they also dramatically reduced sales opportunities.

According to Forbes.com, in September, acting Chief Executive James Marcum spoke of improving the “customer experience” through spruced-up stores and better signage.  Another strategic business mistake by Circuit City.  In retail, you must know who your customer is.  Circuit City’s customer buys based on price, product, service and location. 

Walgreens is another perfect example of a business move that potentially may have results counter to its objectives.  In the state of Florida, Walgreens is in the testing phase of having maintenance prescriptions (prescription orders that are filled by customers every month) filled at a central location in Orlando.

Will seniors really want to do this?  And do they get a choice?  The answer to both:  no.

Walgreens probably just helped the competition to develop their marketing plan.  For years Walgreens have marketed themselves as being the “corner store” or as the slogan suggests, “The Pharmacy America Trusts”.  Now Walgreens wants to turn the prescription business into a factory operation.  Whatever happened to the old-fashioned concept of personally knowing your pharmacist?  Of stepping up to the counter and requesting a refill?

According to an article in the Palm Beach Post dated Friday, October 31^st, Walgreens spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce is quoted as saying, “This is all about making things better for our customers and reducing those frustrating wait times.”  Ms. Bruce is further quoted as saying, “The intent of the program is to try to take away some of the busy work pharmacists have to do in the stores.”  Since when is serving the customer considered “busy work” in a service-oriented, people-oriented industry as the pharmacy business is?

Walgreens is asking pharmacists to relocate to Orlando to fill prescriptions at the central location.  This move suddenly makes pharmacists order fillers rather than practicing their profession and sharing knowledge with customers.  Know of anyone who went to college just to be an educated order-filler???

Walgreens is feeling the pressure of the bottom line.  Yes, some health insurance companies are doing similar practices with regular drug orders and yes, Walgreens may save money but what will they lose in additional business?  Gone is the idea of getting to know your pharmacist and building customer relationships.

During these economic times, you the business person, need to make sure you are not making short-sited bonehead business moves.

Let your competition make the bonehead moves.  Not you.

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There had been much speculation on the cable news channels as to whether Obama could actually close the deal with the American public.  Not only did he close the deal by being elected president but he also in his acceptance speech started the re-election cycle for 2012 when he said: “… The road ahead will be long.  Our climb will be steep.  We may not get there in one year or even in one term…”  That’s not a politician - that’s a guy who knows how to sell!

Regardless of what you may think of Obama’s politics, he never stopped selling the American people.  Barack Obama’s campaign will be studied for years by communication majors at universities and media professionals.  He has taken Web 2.0 internet marketing techniques plus the best of classic direct marketing practices and public relations then integrated them into mainstream politics.  Obama often talked about how he believes it has to start from the bottom on up.  And that’s what he did by creating a powerful marketing funnel and getting people “on the list” to donate and volunteer.   In the process, Barack Obama “image branded” himself and his campaign much like Apple Computer, Starbucks or your favorite brand of jeans.  The Republicans just couldn’t match this sales and marketing machine.

Although many business people, including myself are conservatives, you have to admire how Barack Obama developed a sales strategy and sold it to the American people.  CEOs, presidents and business owners might want to take the time to study his campaign because it is an excellent example of how to develop a marketing campaign.  It wasn’t his policies or his experience that got him elected.  He closed the deal by creating elegant speeches; and knowing what to say and when to say it.  His understanding of the internet and creating catchy slogans about change that meant absolutely nothing.  When you asked people what his change slogans meant they couldn’t tell you how things were going to change.  They were just voting for change, whatever that meant.

And he always stayed on message.  The message never waivered.

Go to Barack Obama’s website.  It’s after the election, the site has been updated and he is still asking for donations and selling merchandise, including commemorative t-shirts, as though it were the day after the Super Bowl.  The guy never stops selling!

As business people, we should only create such powerful sales and marketing campaigns for our own businesses. 

Obama is president-elect.  We will have to see what his policies are over the next four years.  But whatever they are, it’s time for us, as business people, to look at our own sales and marketing campaigns and reinvent them if necessary.  

Then go to work.  Close as many deals as possible.  And never stop selling!

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The big winner was Joe the Plumber. 

Which proves that even in an economic downturn - or worse, the dreaded “r” word, recession, there is opportunity.

Only a few short weeks ago, Joe Wurzelbacher of Ohio was, well, just your “average Joe”. The only people that knew him were his family, friends and co-workers.

Then one day, as Joe was tossing the football with his son in the front yard of his house, presidential candidate, Barack Obama, walked up the street and got into a conversation with Joe.

The rest is political history.

Joe asked Barack Obama a question.  Soon the videotape was seen around the country which quickly ignited one of the centerpieces of debate in the latter days of the presidential campaign.

And that’s really where the story starts.

The story is not only about how this chance meeting affected the presidential race or reflected the opinions of a large segment of the American people; but rather how it changed Joe’s life forever.

Fate and destiny.

Suddenly Joe is a media darling.  People want him to run for Congress.

Joe has even hired a public relations firm to represent him regarding all the offers he is receiving.

Joe has the opportunity to be a very successful person all because he was in the right place at the right time to just ask one question which changed everything in his life.

Now Joe is everywhere.  He is taking advantage, as he should, of the opportunity.

There are always opportunities to take advantage of. 

As business people, all we have to do is see those opportunities. 

For example, a customer may make a statement which leads to uncovering better ways to service and sell this customer which, in turn, furthers your relationship with the customer and makes you more valuable to them…  Or your business competition may falter by reducing sales and marketing staff or by eliminating a key sales person that will fit right into your organization…  There may be inventory that can be purchased at a reduced price because your supplier needs cash and needs to unload product…  Or there may be a business competitor to buy because they don’t know how to succeed in this business downturn. 

There will certainly be people who lose during this economic downturn.  But it doesn’t need to be so - or to include you. 

Pay attention to the opportunities.  Seize them.  And prosper.

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The day we, as a nation, elect the next president of the United States.

It’s been a long two years of presidential campaigning.

Regardless of who you voted for there was one word, one theme that resonated on both sides - change.

In conversations along the way, with people from all walks of life, I asked why they were voting for the presidential candidate of their choice.  And often the answer back was, surprisingly, “I don’t know.  I just want change.”  They didn’t know what kind of specific change they wanted.  They really didn’t know the facts about each of the candidates but they wanted change so whichever candidate projected the word, change, to them best got their vote.  It wasn’t so much the issues or their voting records in the Senate; or even which candidate’s personality they liked better.  It was simply the word, change.  I wonder if those people really understand the change they are voting for.

Now let’s look at, change, from a business perspective.

I hear the word, change, a lot from CEOs, company presidents and business owners that call me up seeking business advice about what to do next in their business in order to remain competitive and profitable in the marketplace.

These business people generally know something isn’t right in their business and sense they need to change something.  

When business people say they want change, they need to consider what that really means.

Some points to consider:

Change for the sake of change is not a good thing.  Are you making a change for the better or a change for the worse?  Sometimes you don’t need to make big changes in your business.  All you need to do is tweak a few things and everything is fine.  Other times it’s not change you need to make, it’s complete overhaul. 

We need to think through this completely undefined word called - change - that has been brought to the forefront by politicians. 

In business, know where you are going, what you want to accomplish and think through how to get there.  If you change just to change, without knowing what that means, chances are you will make the wrong business decisions.

Regardless of which candidate is elected the next president of the United States, there are going to be changes ahead in Washington D.C. and in how this country is governed. 

Know what change means in your business.

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