Author: jgehris

A strategic business plan should be multi-faceted, tactical, and strategic. Optimizing your business is only limited by imagination. Ask why but also why not.  

Change is constant now with technological innovation, more Big Picture change, and cultural change that affects all of us.  We’re in the Age of Consumerism and all things are transactional.   

You have more tools than ever to grow your business but also face more competition for the consumer’s disposable income.

A good plan could be to assess whether you can leverage customer loyalty to secure more Testimonials, referrals, and social media shout-outs.

A second measure of this is whether you can convert the occasional customer to a loyal customer who has made an emotional connection with your business. This increases customer buying patterns and frequency.

A third measure is whether content marketing is successful in converting more prospects to customers.

Building a thriving business rarely happens by chance.

Start with the basics. What is working well, what needs to be strengthened, what needs to be changed, and what is of little benefit.

We know Customer Experience is the currency of customer loyalty, new growth, and brand strength and reach. Your staff delivers consistently good customer service. They are friendly, knowledgeable, active listeners, and good people. That’s the standard.    

There are several ways to communicate with customers. Assess each tool you use to determine whether you are getting the most benefit from the tools you now use. Is there more?

Everything you do should strengthen customer relationships.

Do you have an immediate need? Is now a time to pursue something you have also wanted to do?

Are you you facing a changing market, supply issues, or flat sales with escalating costs? Each business is unique.

The new plan should be based on delivering greater value which is not defined by price.  What is the best way to do this?

Will you launch a campaign to introduce your plan?  Will it be a general branding and marketing plan, a new social media campaign, or an email content marketing campaign? Or, you plan on using more than one tool?

What has worked well for you in the past?

Should it include a new photo shoot or video of your business and new marketing material?

Do you want to launch a new social media campaign with a new theme and goals for your social media posts? Building an audience and then a culture takes work.    

Do you post content marketing to potential customers? What about a new target demographic?

Do you need a “refresh” or a website upgrade? Would a new Landing page make sense for you?

Do you use a financial modeling tool to determine the net impact of a potential market change or any potential decision?

Let’s have a conversation about where you want to take your business in 2026.

We are serial entrepreneurs, conceptualizers, and problem-solvers. 

See what Latham Wade can do for you!!

Force multipliers are business tactics that satisfy needs, identify wants, and achieve your business and personal goals.

Not all force multipliers are equal. Some of them naturally produce a stronger individual dynamic than others, but together they act snyergistically to advance your business.

You could depend on Reviews alone to bring in more new customers, but an authentic Testimonial will make a strong emotional connection with the potential customer and enrich the strength of the Reviews. 

Loyal customers produce authentic Testimonials which resonate with occasional and potential customers.

Successful business owners leverage customer loyalty to secure more customers, reach more potential customers, and grow brand strength.

How you choose to communicate with customers will define your business. Posting fresh and interesting content frequently keeps the website active and current.

Reputation is what people think of your business and brand is your market strength. Customer Experience is the currency of loyalty and new growth of all successful businesses.

Is it better to have an active social media page or fresh organic content on the website?

You need both to become a Google authority website. This produces a top page ranking for your designated keywords, more quality website traffic, more Testimonials and social media shout-outs, more new customers, higher sales, more profit, and more loyal customers to leverage.

Do you have a News segment on the website for posting weekly announcements? Do you tie-in posts to your social media? Do you provide a monthly Newsletter with timely information about your products and services?

Do you use analytics to measure success, make adjustments, and increase your effectiveness?

What are your analytics telling you? Are you getting a return on your social media? Do you need more quality content? is it time for a new campaign?

Has your market changed? Can you embrace the change and make it work or is it time for a strategic reset, a new plan with goals, a Road Map, and a time frame?

Do you need a complimentary Review to help crystallize the next step?

We are serial entrepreneurs and business owners. See what Latham Wade can do for you!!

Power partnering is built on the principle that like-minded business owners can create a force-multiplier when they partner for a specific purpose.

The power partnering relationship often works best when the business owners have different products and customers, but share the same business philosophy, goals, and market.

Their business philosophy is key because it ensures a good working relationship built on mutual trust. They have a cordial relationship and have openly talked about how they market their businesses. Also, their personalities are compatible.

Each business owner earns the trust of customers by providing excellent customer service and uncommon value.

Active listening enables customers to have their questions answered and a good exchange. Customers often become friends.

Each owner has trained his staff to do the little things that ensure customer satisfaction. It’s always the little things that matter.

Each owner uses the website to post authentic Testimonials and frequent organic content. Each has an active social media presence and posts content that informs, educates, and entertains his audience.

Are the business owners’ long-time members of a Main Street business community where the town holds special events for shoppers?

This is an ideal way to power partner because all store owners benefit from community shopping events, but some more than others.

Does a power partnering relationship work when the businesses are in a different but nearby town? It can, but how you partner will determine your success. 

Chances are you already have a potential power partner if you are active on social media, post only authentic Testimonials that can make an emotional connection with potential customers, are creative, and are friendly with other business owners.

Latham Wade sets up power partnering for our clients. We are serial entrepreneurs and business owners.

See what Latham Wade can do for you!!         

Getting found by potential customers is a function of SEO optimization. Google rewards websites that use keyword-rich search terms and post fresh organic content that is interesting and useful regularly.

That’s the only thing that has not changed with Google optimization.

Is your Google page current?

Do you regularly update the page to include announcements, news releases, special promotions, campaigns, or charitable causes you sponsor?  

A Google authority website has a striking design, uses quality pictures, has compelling content, anticipates and answers visitor or user questions, uses optimum internal linkage for streamlined navigation, and utilizes state-of-the-art coding.

That is the Gold Standard.

When is a separate Landing page a good idea? 

A Landing page could be used to launch a major new product line or service, in recognition of being awarded Best in Class by consumers, or something your business does routinely that stands out,  

The Landing page should have your logo and primary colors, organic content, and appropriate link to your website. A Landing page is like a White Paper – it is used as a prestige booster and business multiplier.

Can you change the content of the Landing page? Sure, change the Landing page content when your needs change, when your business makes a change, grows, or when you are recognized by your community, county, or state for providing excellence.   

Can you change the design or layout? Yes, change it as needed. If you replace your website, make sure the Landing page’s design and colors are compatible with the new website.  

Adding a separate Landing page will earn you a better page ranking for the primary site as well.

We are serial entrepreneurs and business owners. See what Latham Wade can do for you!!

A classic Nor’easter delivered a blizzard for the Ages on Sunday and Monday, and it is only February. The weather jocks warned us about the polar vortex being unusually unstable for this time of the year and they were spot-on.

Is now a good time to plan a new campaign to drive growth?

Remember, it’s easier to convert the occasional customer into a loyal customer rather than securing a new customer from prospects, but you need a proven strategy for both.    

Point-of-sale analytics track customer spending, frequency, average spend amount per visit, and products purchased. Website analytics track website visits, frequency, average time spent on the website, pages viewed, average time spent on each page, repeat pages viewed, and sales.

The proven way to convert the occasional customer to a loyal customer is to deliver consistently good Customer Experience, have an active social media with quality organic posts, and post fresh, useful, and interesting content on your website frequently. 

In addition, your website should feature several authentic Testimonials which can make an emotional connection with the customer.

There are 3 different kinds of campaigns that drive new growth.

A branding and marketing campaign is perfect for introducing a new product or service, celebrating an Anniversary, or as a marketing differentiator and business multiplier. 

A social media campaign should have a theme, a narrative, specific goals, and a finite length. It will increase followers and convert some of them to new customers. It reinforces the concept of a family of clients and, at its best, helps build a culture. (See our post of October 24, 2024 for more details on how to do this)

The third kind of campaign is content marketing via email to reach more potential customers.

These include customer referrals, consumers who have recently moved into your community, and consumers in your demographic. This type of campaign often is ongoing or combined with a new social media campaign.

Tell a story, life is all about stories. Authentic stories and Testimonials resonate with consumers and are market differentiators. They are essential to building a family of clients and greater value for your business. 

We are serial entrepreneurs and business owners. See what Latham Wade can do for you!!  

We are in the Information Age with the 24/7 news cycle, but it’s also the Age of Consumerism, the Digital Age, the Age of Big Tech, and a build out of AI. Things are changing quickly and we need to pay attention.

Our smart phones, tablets, laptops, and PCs connect us to the Internet. There are more ways now to get “instant news” than ever before with content exploding across the Internet for every taste.

Many get their news from social media or podcasters, and some young adults get theirs from so-called “influencers”. I’m not complaining because the legacy media no longer can control what America believes or thinks.

We live in a time when some argue about fact-based truths as if everything is relative. There is a clinical component to this.

Many of us now get our news, entertainment, medical information, and Internet searches from our smart phones. We can also make purchases, control any home device with an app, and play video games from the phone.

Virtually all adults and most teenagers possess a smart phone.  

No wonder clearing the cluttered mind is an essential daily must. Find quiet time to relax and unwind from the day.

Whether you get peace through daily prayer, mindfulness training, yoga, deep breathing exercises, or physical exercise, do it faithfully for best results and your mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.

Take a few minutes once a week to focus on why you started your business. Remember your journey from start-up to successful business owner, and how you have grown your business.

What is the one thing you would do for your business if you could? This could be an immediate need, a long time want, or a pivot.   

Can coaching help?

We launched a start-up and sold it to a national company 4 years later. We also created a turnaround plan for a client that included trimming payroll, finding a buyer for his building, and recruiting key talent to implement the new marketing plan.

The business owner sold his building before the bank started foreclosure proceedings, moved to a better location and rented, pivoted to new unique products designed for Concierge medicine, recruited and trained new talent, returned to the black, and just closed on a successful sale of his business to a Midwest conglomerate.

It’s a good story of a second-generation family business owner winning when 40% of his industry was going bankrupt!  

An effective coach uses active and affirmative listening to engage the client on a meaningful level which produces a professional dynamic built on trust and the client’s interests.  

A business coach can use any one or several of the following coaching methods: teaching, leading, mentoring, guiding, counseling, or modeling.

Ideally, a business coach should have lived experience as an entrepreneur and business owner. Naturally, he should have excellent personal skills, including the following core assets:  

1. Active and affirmative listening
2. Rich emotive capital (encouraging and supportive)
3. Excellent conceptualization and problem-solving skills
4. Geometric thinking
5. Collaborative leadership skills

Let’s have a conversation. We are serial entrepreneurs and business owners.

See what Latham Wade can do for you!!

AI is here but there are important considerations before you replace your social media or organic marketing content with AI.

First the basics. AI evolved from machine learning to do a specific function. I’m going to use AI machine learning used in health care as an example.

Hospitals have used machine learning for several repetitive functions such as managing the patient census more effectively when a patient is discharged and the bed is available for a new patient.

This works well because the AI machine learning has built-in strict guardrails ensuring it only has a limited function.

Quality medical coding is a critical function for every hospital. Expert coders are in high demand because accurate and complete coding ensures all charges are billed promptly and correctly, and are submitted to the insurer for payment.

It involves assigning each correct CPT code for every patient’s procedure or treatment in our health care system. The code must be correct or the insurance company denies it.

Machine learning is a good fit for medical coding because it is narrow in scope and expert coders provide continuous human oversight.

AI is used on your Smart phone, in your home, and in business, and is for the most part function-specific for reliability.

Perhaps you read about the senior partner for Morgan and Morgan, the national litigation firm, who used Chat GPT to write his legal brief. Unfortunately, Chat GPT cited fictitious legal rulings to buttress his brief

Not to be outdone, two Federal District judges did the same thing and of course were professionally embarrassed and reprimanded.   

AI is good at doing specific and limited tasking with guard rails, but not as good at understanding nuance or human behavior. In addition, Chat GPT apparently enjoys “tricking” human beings.

Should you use it for other business tasks?

AI or a third-generation algorithm can identify historic customer spending habits, patterns, changes, and product preferences, plus it is good at measuring potential customer interest in your products or services for content marketing.

What about a customer Chat function?

A Customer Chat function can handle basic questions, but it must have a live Customer service option readily available to ensure a favorable customer experience.

Every communication is an opportunity to prove you care about the customer and appreciate the customer’s business. Leveraging each favorable Customer Experiences strengthens brand and is a powerful business multiplier.

We are serial entrepreneurs helping business owners be more successful.  

See what Latham Wade can do for you!!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s an idea worth today? The adage rings true, but of course all ideas are not equal and context is critical.

How do you get your information today?

We’re in the digital age of consumerism and the 24-hour new cycle where there is an overload of “critical” information, too many “gurus”, and too many “hipsters” with the latest must-have solution.

Getting the right information is essential to your business and finding that partner is not easy.

Successful business owners need a straight-up approach based on their unique needs, not another cookie-cutter solution to do what you are already doing.

We specialize in getting you more and crafting solutions that work. Our passion is helping business owners with dynamic strategies that help them be more successful.

Whether it is overcoming a new challenge, pivoting to go in a different direction, expanding to a second or third location, considering a buy-out, or doing a turnaround, we can help.

We’re interested in you. We’d like to hear your story, how you started your own business, what you enjoy most about the business, what you believe needs to be strengthened, and what your longer-term professional and personal goals are.

Let’s have a conversation about your goals for 2026, and your needs and wants.

The Atlanta Fed revised its 4^th quarter growth projection from 2.9% to 4.3% when they acknowledged a stronger economy with job growth in the private sector, continuing low inflation, real wage growth, and smart business investment rather than investing in cheap labor.

Here’s betting government issues new policies making it easier for first-time home buyers to acquire the American dream and senior homeowners to downsize, thus creating more home inventory for buyers.  

In addition, it looks like there will be a cap on credit card rates at 10%, saving consumers more money. Gasoline prices will continue to come down, and some food prices will, too.  

More consumer income with little inflation and falling prices means a growth economy with abundant opportunity. The table is set. Are you ready?

We’re different, we are serial entrepreneurs helping business owners be more successful.

See what Latham Wade can do you!!

You are a doer, have the innate talent and drive to succeed, do not quit, have good people skills, and have overcome new challenges with innovation.

You’ve built a loyal customer base and done well. You enjoy owning your business, but things are different now. Yes, the Pandemic has been over since late 2022, but this is a change economy.

Is it time for a reset to assess where you are and implement a proven strategy to take advantage of the economy?

A reset could include any of following:

1. A comprehensive Review of your products, suppliers, customer service, customer spending patterns, and market
2. Identify and build on your strengths and reach  
3. A fresh look at market positioning
4. Determine whether a current trend is temporary or longer term
5. A proven way to convert more customers to loyal customers
6. Different ways to leverage loyal customers to reach more consumers
7. Tools to reach more prospects and convert them to customers
8. How to build a culture with your social media
9. A fresh review of your 24/7 online identity
10. Modeling the Net Impact of potential strategies 

A reset can be as little as a strategic tweak or a multi-faceted strategy to ignite new growth, better margins, and sustainable profitability.

The New Year shows much promise as Americans will have more disposable income. Gas prices are below $3.00 a gallon for the first time in 5 years and several states have gasoline prices well below $2.00 a gallon.  

The job market is adding more non-government jobs for the first time since 2019. Mortgage rates are coming down. Look for innovative changes that will make it more affordable for first-time homeowners. Rents are also trending down.

The Federal Reserve will lower interest rates several times in 2026, thereby helping all consumers. 

The tax credit for childcare expenses is expanded which will help those with young children. Most Social Security recipients will not have to pay any federal income tax.

In short, inflation is tame, the economy is experiencing real growth on Main Street America, prices are moderating, more consumers will have more disposable income, and a new growth economy in 2026 is here.

We are serial entrepreneurs and conceptualizers. Helping you get more is our passion.

See what Latham Wade can do for you!!

There is a fundamental disconnect between the mainstream economists and the reality of the opportunity economy that begins January 1, 2026. The Fed is holding back on rate cuts, going small, when the data says they should cut interest rates more or risk stalling the recovery.

The Fed has been responsible for most of the historic crises with the economy since its inception in 1913. Easy credit and then a restrictive money supply caused the Great Depression and massive deflation. Then, government policy extended the Great Depression by at least 4 years.

Fast forward to the housing crisis created by the Dodd-Frank law passed by Congress and supported by the Fed. Abolishing credit standards for mortgages created a disaster that affected most Americans when it occurred in 2008.

Is there a better way than central planning for the economy? 

One way would be to limit the Fed’s mandate to only managing the money supply. The Fed has proven inept at “reading the tea leaves” for the risk of inflation, unemployment, and growth.

You know the game is “rigged” when the Fed does not include energy and food prices in its Consumer Price Index calculation. They did but changed the calculation years ago to be more “relevant”.

The Fed has become the borrower of last resort for the United States Treasury. One arm of the government selling T-bills to an “independent” arm of the government. What could possibly go wrong?

We lived through the Pandemic that clearly was a Chinese lab leak despite the attempt by government officials to sell us it likely came from a meat market.

You be the judge whether this was a “deliberate” leak with plausible deniability.

Six governors thought it was a good idea to force hospitals to discharge elderly patients who had contacted COVID-19 back to their nursing homes where the virus spread like wildfire.        

This was an unforced error of the worst kind. In addition, restrictive policies forced 33,000 small businesses in New Jersey to close.  

You had to adjust immediately to the rules issued by the government and figure out how to survive. The Pandemic is in the rear-view mirror, but the lessons learned made you stronger and more resilient.

Innovation usually counters change – it was an example of Main Street America at its best.

The recovery has been uneven by state and type of business. Change now is a constant, especially changes in our technology, how we get our information, how customers find you, and how you can reach more potential customers.

AI is going mainstream, although language models have trouble with nuance. They also can trick human beings as the Morgan and Morgan attorney found out after using Chat GPT to write his legal brief. The cases cited were pure fiction.

Not to be outdone, two Federal District judges who should have known better also used AI to write their briefs. Again, the cases cited were pure fiction.

AI is being used for some customer service functions. Also, it is good at parsing large data for trending, patterns, and a predictive capability for potential decisions which make it useful for big business, health care, and manufacturing.

There are more ways than ever to build out your business and make your professional and personal goals a reality. 

What is your biggest need in the New Year? What is your one want?  

We are seasoned serial entrepreneurs and problem solvers. See what Latham Wade can do for you!!