Could this happen to you?

You too can increase profits without necessarily increasing sales!

How?

The “Profits Leak Detective Newsletter” offers regular tips and strategies to help you identify and plug those leaking profits.

You may never have known you have them.

Subscribe to receive a FREE Case Study on the success of just one strategy.

BONUS free report “7 Clues to a Profit Leak”, valued at $47.

How do you know that you should be looking for leaks?

Are there some clues or symptoms that are telltales saying that a

bit of drilling down into your business might pay some dividends?

Possible leaks could be anywhere.

This report provides 7 clues that should put you on alert for a profit leak.

Be alert - SUBSCRIBE NOW

"Adam, over the past six years, I've had the pleasure of 'bumping into you' on at least three business and marketing related forums. Your contributionsto discussions have always been courteous, astute, incisive and practical,delivered with good humour, and based upon 'real-world' business experience. You are clearly an experienced business professional who actually knows what he is talking about. I wonder if your clients know what a gem they have in you? As one business professional to another, I salute you.

Good Wishes,
John Williamson - The Wealth Coach
www.thewealthcoach.com
www.retaildisplaysecrets.com

+++++++++++++++++++

I just LOVED "7 Clues to a Profits Leak".

Steven Walker - Profit Improvement Advisors
Calgary, Canada

+++++++++++++++++++

You will be proud how your protégés are proceeding! We have expanded the business to Katherine and Alice (Tennant is also on the list). T he catering side of the business is far less stressful and is actually profitable, now that we only take the good jobs.
We will never forget the assistance you gave us in re-inventing our business!

Karen Sheldon

Managing Director

Karen Sheldon Catering

Darwin, Australia

+++++++++++++++++++

The chap is Adam Gordon whom I have known for many years. He is a former resident of Darwin having lived here for perhaps 25 years, is an excellent communicator and has a very good appreciation of small business, business plans and all that goes with it. In fact Adam is regarded as a business guru.

Charles Wright, QS Services, Darwin, Australia

+++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks for the catch-up the other day. It's great to be working with a legend in the small business community.

AJ Kulatunga, BLKMGK ICT

Darwin, Australia

+++++++++++++++++++

The 7 Clues is a great.

What I like the most in the Seven Clues report is that it clearly explains that accounting is merely a subset of proper financial management and

that only the business owner can practise financial management. The accountant does the accounting, and in doing so supports the business owner's financial management. And the business owner uses the accountant's information, but relying on the accountant to do full-blown financial management is short-sighted.

The report nicely "grounds" an otherwise complex topic which many business owners are afraid of touching, so they often move ahead in blissful ignorance. The water hose and the soggy soil under the leak makes an excellent and easy-to-comprehend example, upon which the financial management concept is nicely built.

Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan, Organisational Provocateur Dynamic Innovations Squad
Personal and Firm-Wide Performance Improvement for Management Consulting Firms

Vancouver, BC Canada

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You have played a very important role in my development in business.

You were there with the right information at the right time, I thank you for that.
By adding the next level of systems, and marketing knowledge that you brought to the table we able to identify our objectives, acknowledge the gaps in our business and put in place the planning so as to achieve those objectives. Within 5 years we achieved 9 of our ten stated objectives. In that same year we won the NT Telstra Small business of the year"

Greg Haigh
Director - Trade Group
Regional And Northern maintenance services
RANms

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Recent newsletters include:

How well do you know your market?
How turning away customers leads to profits
How to create Superior Value
How to win against your competition
Do you need to make changes to your business?
"Our customers are costing us too much!"
Why competition is good news
What makes a web site effective?
Most businesses have one, but...
How to improve your quotations
How to raise prices without losing sales
Is your business resilient?
How to develop a new product in your niche
How big is your profit gap?
How discounting destroyed value
Benchmarking for best practice
From all customers to some customers
How to take the guesswork out of growth
Should your USP be based on logic or emotion?
How to triple your quotation success rate
How to dramatically improve your quotations
How to make more effective decisions?
How to develop your USP
Do you want to make better planning choices?
Are youmaking these mistakes in planning?
How to use SWOT properly
Does your sales conversation balance the scales of justice?
The perils of profitless cash flow!
So what is more important, cash flow or profit?
Are you getting value from your pricing?
Do you report to yourself monthly?
Follow the money trail!
Performance also counts!
Get more bang for your buck!
Without measurement there can be no improvement!
Where would your business be without customers?
Using your monthly report to improve your profits
Just who is your customer?
And what do you know about your customer?
How branding can increase your profits!
Can branding make you more money?
How to balance the value equation
Tilting the balance in your favour
How to pin the tail on the donkey
Are you groping in the dark with your real cost of labour
Mastering core marketing principles
Building a 5P marketing plan
Profit leaking processes
Should you be trying to increase or decrease cash flow
At times it is folly to hasten
5 steps to create your future
What will be the X-Factor in 2009
Lies, damn lies & statistics
How to use a squad profit leak detectives
Confidence leads to action
Increase sales - so easy to say
So you want to know how to increase sales
Is selling a necessary evil?

Could this happen to you?

If it wasn't tragic it would be farcical

A recent report in Air Transport World (atwonline.com) on the crash of Yak 42 which killed 44 of the 45 people on board has some lessons, even for small business.

First the report.

Russian investigators: String of circumstances caused Yak-42 crash

The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) investigating the Russian Yak-42 crash at Yaroslavl Airport (IAR) has determined that a series of circumstances-improper crew training, poor coordination between the crew, and the pilots' failure to follow standard takeoff procedures-caused the Sept. 7 crash.

The Yak-42 crashed on takeoff about 2 km. from the IAR runway, killing 44 of the 45 people onboard. One crew member survived.

According to the IAC, during the preflight preparation, the crew did not properly calculate the take-off weight and weight balance and did not accurately compute the take-off distance for the aircraft weight. These miscalculations led to mistakes in determining the decision speed-190 km. per hr. instead of the necessary 210 km. per hr., IAC said.

During takeoff, the pilot or copilot inadvertently activated the brakes while pulling on the controls to lift the nose, slowing the acceleration of the aircraft, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network (ASN). (Not really made explicit in this article is that they had never sat in the cockpit with an instructor, and as a result one of them at least had his feet on the brake pedals thinking they were the rudder pedals and was pressing harder and harder trying to hold the aircraft straight while more and more thrust was being applied to try to overcome the brakes.)

The IAC noted the Yak-service pilots received their main flight experience on the Yak-40 aircraft, which has a different footplate construction than the Yak-42.

The investigation also revealed the first officer had health problems and took Phenobarbital, which is forbidden for pilots because it has a negative impact on the nervous system, according to the ASN.

The opening paragraph really sums it up:

Improper training;
Poor co-ordination and presumably communication
Failure to follow standard operating procedures

In a recent newsletter (PLD 85, What if it all goes horribly wrong - and could have been prevented?) I wrote of a family business that undertook a major expansion and, within 15 months, had failed, at considerable cost to all involved.

I said "What went wrong? It is often said that a business can stand one thing going wrong, and often two things going wrong at one time, but it cannot stand three adversities. This business got hit by three adversities."

In that case two of the three adversities were external. The point of the newsletter was the need for proper risk management. No attempts appear to have made any to identify what could go wrong and the likely impact of any such event. Building a sustainable business requires on-going risk assessment and management, a precaution that had been neglected in this case.

In the case of the Yak-42 all three adversities were internal, and therefore able to be directly remedied by management.

And just look at the three issues, training, communication and procedures, all critical to developing a sustainable business.

How well does your business fare looking at these issues? Are you likely to get airborne and successfully reach your destination, or fail at some point during your journey?

ag dec 06-2