Savannah, GA - August 2, 2012 How to Grow Revenues for Training & Consulting Companies

[Paul Terlemezian]

This discussion has been arranged to allow us to have ongoing conversation about growing revenues for our own companies. The content on August 2, 2012 in Savannah will be similar to the content provided for TAG in Atlanta on May 31, 2012.

 

What we'll do is spend 30-40 minutes focused on some fundamental concepts related to revenue growth. This site has many discussions about these concepts - here is one in particular - TAG May 31, 2012.

 

When we break into small groups we will focus on what the 2012 Trends for our Industry mean to us in our businesses so we will be ahead of the market in 2013. Here is a discussion to view: 2012 Trends

 

ACTION for you!  - Post a question in this discussion about what you want to know about "How to Grow Revenues"

 

See you soon!

 

[Paul Terlemezian]

I just double-checked the links above and noticed they were not working - I believe it has been corrected. You shold be able to click on the 2012 Trends and TAG May 31, 2012 in the discussion above and be linked to those discussions.

[Paul Terlemezian]

Thank you for attending the event - please continue to ask questions that you believe are related to revenue growth for your company - whether or not it relates to the presentation I delivered or the slides that were in the slide deck.

 

Here are your questions:

 

Why Ning? Here is a answer I wrote previously. Since then I feel even better about the decision. In brief - those who I was learning from about Social Media - were using Ning - so I followed the leaders. Since then - Ning changed from free to fee and many of the people I was learning from left Ning and went to other products. Ning is focused on being  a leader in social community functionality and making a profit while doing so. It has much more functionality for communities than LinkedIn (e.g. blogtalk radio; custom app development and dozens of others)

How should a company be organized - nonprofit or for profit? In general there are more restrictions on a nonprofit than a for profit - and a for profit may operate without a profit - so I tend to favor for profit. There are legal and accounting realities associated with both - I suggest you gain the advice of a professional. In addition - there is the message that you wish to send to your clients and employees. Both organizations need to raise money and in general the sources of the money have different expectations. Nonprofit sources will measure your ability to fulfill your stated social cause. For profit sources will measure your ability to produce sustainable profits. This question deserves a follow up conversation.

How do you get others to think out of the box? I would look at the mains sources of No (5 and 1/2 reasons) first to make sure it is really in their best interests to think out of the box. Trust, Need and Hurry are often the main sources of resistance. It is easier for others to articulate lack of money or lack of help - so this could be misleading.

How do you quantify results? I suggest that you agree on what is to be measured, can be measured and has a budget to be measured if in fact results are to be quantified. Oftentimes the difficulty in quantifying stems from lack of committed agreement on what to measure and potential concern that what is being measured is not relevant or worth the cost.

How do you measure the value of intellectual capital? There are experts that make a living doing this - especially when there is a divorce or lawsuit that motivates the need. The value may vary based on the application of the property. The owner perceives value based on the effort to produce the IP and the future revenue potential. The "buyer" perceives the risk and the effort related to realizing the future revenue potential. Without a willing buyer - it is hard to prove a value.