e-ret@iler from Profits Plus and Tom Shay
ideas to be more profitable in your business
July 2006 - Our 80th consecutive issue

The July e-ret@iler contains:

1. The article of the month: Finding the puck
2. e-ret@iler advisory of the month: The new
Profits Plus website
3. Web tip of the month: operating expenses as
a percentage
4. Our Power Promoting idea of the month:
Name your charity sale
5. Book of the month: Keeping good people
6. Your e-ret@iler subscription, contacting
Profits Plus and Tom Shay

O => Print the July issue of the e-ret@iler
so you can read it at your leisure.

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1. The article of the month: Finding the puck

Just a couple of weeks ago the NHL season
ended with the Carolina Hurricanes winning the
Stanley Cup. This article is not about their
winning the cup. The article of the month discusses
advertising and ways of maximizing the dollars
you spend inviting people to visit your business.

Finding the puck

O <= After printing the July e-ret@iler, check
here if you plan to read the article of the month.

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2. e-ret@iler advisory of the month: The new
Profits Plus website

Have you been by to visit the new look of the
Profits Plus website? We have been working for
several months to make the website easier to
navigate. This was necessary because of all the
new things we have added to the website.

One of our neatest new features is the "Tom Shay
Live" section. You can find it under the resources
tab. And when you look at the list of topics,
we have a recording of most of them loaded on
the site in streaming audio.

So, for any presentation that you have previously
heard, you can now listen to them again free of
charge!

O <= After printing the July e-ret@iler, check
here if you plan to review the website for
your business.

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3. Web tip of the month: operating expenses as
a percentage

Right from the profit and loss statement, the
largest portion of the statement lists all of
the expenses for the month. They are totaled
with a line of "Total operating expenses".
All of the individual lines and the total line
are expressed in two terms; the first is dollars
and cents. The second is that they are expressed
as a percentage of sales. Hence the name of,
"operating expenses as a percentage".

You can find more information when you follow
this link.

Operating expenses as a percentage

O <= After printing the July e-ret@iler,
check here if you plan to look at the financial
ratios calculator.

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4. Our Power Promoting idea of the month:
Name your charity sale

This is a great way to raise your visibility
in your community, increase your customer data
base, and gain some new customers.

The business where we saw this idea decided
to have a promotion in which nothing had a
sale price.

The pitch went something like this: Shop in
our business and as you make a purchase, fill
out an index card with your name, address,
e-mail, and the name of your favorite charity.

As the sale is rang up, the clerk writes the
amount of the purchase on the card. The business
then makes a contribution of 10% of the purchase
to the named charity.

At the end of the promotion, the amount to be
donated to each of the charities is totaled with
an additional donation being given to the
charity that had the highest dollar amount.

This extra incentive helps to get the various
charities involved in getting their supporters
to shop in your business.

Compare the amount that you would normally
discount merchandise for a sale to your
making a tax deductible donation that is
equal to 10%. Also remember that when this
promotion is properly created you will not
have to utilize any media.

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5. Book of the month: Keeping good people by
Roger E. Herman

Truly the title of this book represents a concern
that all of us have in good business. I have
unfortunately observed many businesses that in an
effort to keep their staff, have made a decision
to not educate the staff so as to not make them
too inviting for the competition to attempt to
hire away.

There must be a better way. There is, and you will
gain a lot of insight from Roger's book.

If you have already read this book, or are looking
for more books to read, follow this link to the list
of suggested readings on the book referral page
of the Profits Plus website.

Book Referral List

O <= After printing the July e-ret@iler,
check here if you plan to read the book of the
month.

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7. Your e-ret@iler subscription and contacting
Profits Plus and Tom Shay.

Contacting us is just as easy:
The phone is 727-823-7205
The fax is 727-898-3179
The mailing address is:
PO Box 128
Dardanelle, AR 72834 USA

As we pass the half way mark of the year,
how are you doing with your resolutions for
2006? I hope two of your resolutions were
to do more business with other small
businesses and to read a business book each
month. Let me know how you are doing.

Get your Profits Plus. May God bless you
and yours. We will see you in August.

Tom Shay