Hi There -

Many business owners are familiar with the concept of a 'Loss Leader', a product sold at a loss in order to promote other, more profitable products in the future. The strategic aspect on this theme is the Complementary Product (or Industry), one that is successful in its own right but which, through its success, promotes your other products.

Here in South-East Queensland, as with other Shirlaws cities globally, we run regular executive and leadership workshops. These are complementary to our business coaching work - workshops provide direct value to those who attend, and many attendees later decide they would benefit from coaching tailored to their business' needs.

If you would like more information on our upcoming workshops, including those we run to support local charities, please contact me or your favourite Shirlaws coach. And remember to ask yourself - what other businesses, were they more successful, would support my growth? And how can I support them to achieve that?

Complements and Loss Leaders

From the Michelin Guide (to sell car tyres) to GMail (to sell Ad Sense), linking products to growth has a successful history.

The Why, What and How of Blogging

At our Australian Client Conference in March this year Marc Johnstone made an important point about blogs being how your business is pre-sold online, providing important distribution and referrals. If you've considered, maybe even attempted, a blog and found it too hard I hope this guide can make it easy.

SMEs in Five Years

What opportunities for complementary products exist for your business? One way to lead a trend is to understand where other business owners see the world and your industry moving in the coming years. The survey results linked here are eye-opening and mind-opening - though I'm always mindful of Henry Ford's quote that surveying the American people would have revealed a desire for "faster horses".

Good Questions pre-Start-up

Whether it's a complementary product or a new business entirely, there are important strategic questions you need to ask yourself first. Be warned - if you invent a pain that doesn't exist, your business will struggle no matter how perfect the solution you create.

Intranet Joke of the Week

A boss tells his new employee "I'll pay you $10 and hour today and in three months I'll raise it to $20 an hour. When would you like to start?"

The employee responds: "In three months."

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