Article of the Month - 
What I learned from buying soap

Speaking at an event in San Diego, I had some time in the afternoon to wander about that beautiful city. On the waterfront were a number of small businesses. The business is now gone, but I did enjoy buying some unique soap in one of the shops. As I liked the consumable product, I continued to order online. The article of the month tells of my experience in ordering. That experience is a wonderful lesson about working to retain customers.

Book of the month - 
The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy

We are going to have a feature article in the next couple of months dealing with selling, but the short of it is that so many small businesses are content with just taking an order or ringing up a sale at the register. Far too many people think that "selling" is another way of being pushy. Those people do not belong in any kind of small business. Seen properly, selling is sharing your knowledge and experience with another person in an effort to help that person make the best decision in making a purchase.

This is a great book that I hope can help people to see what selling can truly be.

Internet Tool for Your Business - 
Return on Assets Calculation

Think about your small business. Whether you sell products, services, or both, you have assets that are a part of your business. In retailing, there are all kinds of assets - building, inventory, fixtures, equipment. In a service business, you also have equipment and perhaps a building and inventory. All of these cost money.

If you took all that money and invested it through a financial advisor, you would surely ask how much money you would make from your investment. The answer you would receive would be the "return on assets." Then you would decide if this is where you want to make the investment.

The same is true for the assets you have in your small business. You have already made the investment, and you should know what the return is. Regardless of what the answer is, you should make a point to examine all your assets and decide if you do need each item. Perhaps there is a piece of equipment just sitting there unused. That money could produce a good return if it were invested in something else.

This month's calculator helps you perform that math.

Each month, we highlight one of the 47 free tools on the Profits Plus website; we call them "calculators." While some provide analysis by numbers and ratios, some are assessments, and others are self-examination questions. Many are downloadable, while others, because of the complexity of the calculations going on behind the scenes, are a part of the website and allow you to print your answers. None of them requires you to give any personal information nor are there any "cookies" tracking you or your information.

Staff Incentive for Your Business - 
Half-Year Hero

The year is now half over. Consider creating an award for your half-year hero. The person who has shown the most improvement in their sales skills, the person who went above and beyond in handling their assignments, the person who was the best at taking the initiative in improving your small business.

One of the quickest ways to lose a good employee, or to have a good employee diminish their efforts, is the failure to recognize and appreciate the person - both privately and publicly.

We want to recognize A Carrot A Day by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, whose book provides the basis for each month's incentive idea.