Profit Building

Build an organization that is growth-minded, values-based, and innovative using the six steps to “responsible impact.” At age 16, Michael ‘Piecez’ Prosserman, a professional b-boy (breakdancer), completed a school project that would grow to become a hip-hop-inspired mental health charity with global reach. Through a process of continuous discovery and reflection, Prosserman and his team grew UNITY to the point where it benefitted over a quarter of a million young people. In Building Unity, Prosserman breaks down the six steps to discovering “responsible impact” and building an organization that is growth-minded, values-based, and reflective of the needs of its community. Using stories of his own evolution, learning, and growth as a leader over 15 years, Prosserman parallels the creativity found in breakdancing with the innovation needed to build a sustainable non-profit. Six steps to discovering “responsible impact”: Spark is the inspiration, the big “why,” the motivation to wake up and do something. Build is the testing ground to clarify ideas, understand community needs, and challenge assumptions. Trust involves building the culture of your organization, leading by example, and hiring people with dreams. Trust sets the stage for growth by empowering awesome people. Grow is about finding the right size for your organization to create a responsible impact. Evolve is knowing when to step back so others can step forward by building a succession plan that leaves your organization in good hands. Re-Ignite is building from past experience and lighting the next spark within yourself.

According to a consultant who specializes in helping organizations develop creative approaches to building profit and managing innovation, achieving these goals is getting even tougher in the hi- tech global economy. Ludy outlines the steps of his team innovation management strategy, including a new twist on brainstorming. Appends profit-building process forms. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Improving Profit is the number one objective of business leaders, yet most do not truly understand how to move beyond the basics when it comes to cost reduction for profit improvement. Typically, a companys response to reducing cost is to reduce the workforce. People are laid off in large numbers and dollars are saved--or so it seems. This is a mistake, a short-term solution. Profit Building provides a better approach, one that focuses on profit improvement as a stand-alone process, demonstrating how an organization can achieve its goals to improve profitability and reduce cost through a proven method based on team innovation management. Perry J. Ludy offers a hands-on guide that shows managers how to move profit and loss financial reviews beyond the basics to creative solutions and genuine action plans. Using the authors five-step Profit Building Process (PBP), Profit Building shows how to organize teams with the specific purpose of improving profit--while providing an opportunity for employees to participate in developing cost reduction strategies so that profit improvement is perpetual. A system of step-by-step activities designed to produce immediate and continuous results, the PBP shows managers how to apply concepts from prior learning--such as teams, innovation management, and performance improvement planning--to create tailor-made strategies for any organization. And it introduces """"Questions Brainstorming,"""" a new twist to traditional brainstorming that fosters avid group participation resulting in better solutions. In order to achieve success beyond today, business leaders must leverage all resources available within the organization to improve profit, reduce cost, and create a better place to work. Profit Building is an executive handbook and a quick desk reference for managers that shows how to do just that.

What if you could protect your business against competitive inroads, once and for all? Customer service experts Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon's anticipatory customer service approach was first developed at The Ritz-Carlton as well as at Solomon's company Oasis, and has since proven itself in countless companies around the globe--from luxury giant BVLGARI to value-sensitive auto parts leader Carquest and everywhere in between. Their experience shows that the most powerful growth engine in a tight market--and best protection from competitive inroads--is to put everything you can into cultivating true customer loyalty. Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit takes the techniques that minted money for these brands and reveals how you can apply them to your own business to provide the kind of exceptional service that nearly guarantees loyalty. Soon, you'll be reaping the benefits of loyal customers who are: less sensitive to price competition, more forgiving of small glitches, and, ultimately, who are "walking billboards" happily promoting your brand. Filled with detailed, behind-the-scenes examples, Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit unlocks a new level of customer relationship that leaves your competitors in the dust, your customers coming back day after day, and your bottom line looking better than it ever has before.

The New Media In September of 2004, the CBS News program “60 Minutes II” ran a special on President George Bush’s service in the Texas National Guard during the Vietnam War. One of the pieces of data they displayed was a memo allegedly written by the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian. As soon as the memo flashed across the screen, the New Media began an investigation that would lead to in the firing of three CBS News executives and the retirement of longtime anchor Dan Rather. At issue was a simple question: was the memo authentic? CBS News assured the public it was, citing handwriting and document experts. Within 24 hours, the New Media had shown that such was not the case, that the memos could not have been produced on any machine in the hands of the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam era. The New Media quickly demonstrated that the proportional spacing of the memo and the superscripting of dates were nearly impossible to create on 1970s technology and that the layout of the memo was unlike anything produced at the time. In short, they showed that the memo was not created on a Texas National Guard typewriter as CBS News had alleged, but was instead produced on a modern computer using Microsoft Word on its default settings and faxed or copied repeatedly to make it look old. They showed, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the memo was a fake. As word of the fraud spread across the internet, additional data came to the fore, questioning the use of CBS news’ acquisition and handling of the documents. Within a week, other major news organizations began reporting on the controversy, within two weeks, CBS itself reported that they had been misled by their source concerning the origin of the memo. Soon after, CBS brought in a former attorney general and a former president of the Associated Press to get to the bottom of the issue. The result was a shakeup of the entire CBS news structure. Who was this “New Media” that was knowledgeable enough about such arcane topics as superscripting and National Guard memo layouts to shake up one of the biggest news outfits in the world in a matter of weeks? It was a network of independent bloggers who posted their findings in real time, shared information, and tested ideas. And their posts were followed closely by millions of readers, many of whom posted the findings on their own blogs for their own readers. As those readers shared the information with friends and colleagues, interest in the New Media, and the habit of readers looking for their news from independent sources, accelerated a climb that began when Matt Drudge reported rumors of what became the Monica Lewinski scandal several months before the Old Media whispered a word publicly about it.

If you have the dream to become an entrepreneur and start your own business, The Purpose Is Profit was written for you. It covers the full arc-from the struggle to conceive the right idea, to funding your startup, to scaling the business, to executing the exit strategy. The appendix includes The Startup Roadmap and The Startup Funding Guide.

Markets change-smart investors adapt. No matter what the state of the real estate market, there is wealth to be made, and the basics of smart investing still apply. In Building Real Estate Wealth in a Changing Market, John Schaub shows you how you can invest and thrive in any market. Change creates chaos, but it also creates opportunity for those who can recognize it and react. Schaub helps you find hidden deals and shows you how to cash-in on the great bargains available in a slowing market. If you want to invest safely and profitably, you'll find a wealth of expert guidance on: Predicting change in your local market Profiting from change in individual neighborhoods Protecting your investments from market fluctuation Selling profitably in a buyer's market Finding foreclosures, pre-foreclosures and other distressed properties Buying from banks and other lenders Buying properties from other investors Plus, you'll discover Schaub's step-by-step, ten-year plan for creating wealth. When you combine these wise investing tips and tactics with a proven long-term plan, you'll build wealth to last a lifetime. “Gurus I respect...are people who have been in the business and love it and want to help people be successful investors...like John Schaub.”-John T. Reed, Money Magazine "On my scale of one to 10, this outstanding book rates an off-the-chart 12."- Bob Bruss

Leading marketing expert V. Kumar shows how to use Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to target customers with higher profit potential...manage and reward existing customers based on their profitability...and invest in high-profit customers to prevent attrition and ensure future profitability. Kumar introduces customer-centric approaches to allocating marketing resources for maximum effectiveness...pitching the right products to the right customers at the right time...determining when a customer is likely to leave, and whether to intervene...managing multichannel shopping...even calculating a customer's referral value.