Press Kit

Click on this link to open a comprehensive press kit as a PDF file – RPF Press kit

Why You Want to Talk to Ron

Subject Matter Expert on Small Business Mastery

Ron can make your life easier by being a resource to answer questions you have about small business (<$10M in revenues.) Ron is called The Small Business Success Expert by his clients because of his passion for their success and his knowledge of business. Ron is passionate about making a difference in people’s lives by helping them to achieve their business and personal goals and dreams.

As a Certified Knowledge Manager and business-technology consultant, who has business and technology experience spanning two decades, he brings a blue-chip background from global companies such as Xerox, Unisys, GenCorp/Omnova, Xerox Connect and Wang. Between 1982 and 2001, Finklestein held various technical and executive positions including:  Divisional IT Manager, Financial Manager, Manager of Document Imaging and Workflow, Business Process Analyst, and Technical Sales. In addition to being a Certified Knowledge Manager, he is also a Certified Document Imaging Architect and was profiled in the 2000 edition of Who’s Who in Information Technology.

Ron has experience in working with businesses across a wide range of industries:

  • Manufacturing
  • Banking
  • Government
  • Healthcare
  • Outsourced Services
  • Technology Industries
  • Insurance
  • Finance

He has worked on almost every aspect of business from information technology to marketing, leadership to sales, allowing him to offer practical and proven ideas and strategies to improve any business.  Finklestein knows and understands that all successful people exhibit nine behaviors and he has build products to help implement these behaviors in businesses of all sizes. Because of the depth and breadth of Ron’s experience, he can quickly and decisively see and identify business and personal challenges, identify innovative solutions and create opportunities out of most any problem.

Top 7 Questions You Need Answers For

Why do so many small businesses fail?

  • Lack of a well-developed business plan
  • Not pricing properly
  • Being overly optimistic – sales, money
  • Not recognizing, or ignoring, what they don’t do well and not seeking help from those who do
  • Ineffective prioritization
  • Denying problems exist
  • Minimizing the importance of marketing
  • Insufficient business experience

What are the business owner’s biggest weaknesses?

  • Not managing change effectively
  • The rapid pace of change
  • Lack of focus and clarity
  • Working in the business and not on the business
  • No one to hold them accountable
  • Lack of sales experience
  • Lack of marketing experience
  • Lack of management experience
  • Lack of knowledge
  • Not asking for help in areas where they lack knowledge or experience
  • Overly optimistic on revenues and expenses

What is the top business issues business owners are dealing with today (in no particular order)?

  • Strengthening customer relationships
  • Finding Good People
  • Minimizing taxes
  • Growing the business
  • Keeping pace with technology
  • Managing cash flow
  • Current business climate
  • Creating & executing strategy
  • Retirement & business succession planning
  • Finding expansion capital

What prevents them from seeking help?

  • Lack of money
  • Don’t know who to trust
  • Lack of time
  • Don’t know where to turn
  • Fear / Shame that they had ask for help

Who are starting businesses today?

  • People who have been “right sized” out of a job
  • People who are afraid for their job
  • People who want financial security
  • People who cannot find a job
  • People who want some control over their situation

What kinds of businesses are they starting?

  • Buying franchises
  • Home based businesses
  • Internet Businesses
  • Network marketing opportunities

What problems are they facing?

  • Lack of money
  • Lack of knowledge
  • Lack of skills

Ron Finklestein’s Book’s

49 marketing secrets cover for web

49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales

What others have said about…

 

The heavy hitters, the shining stars, the bright lights — they’re all here for you in this brilliant and enlightening book.  It should be mandatory reading for anyone who loves marketing and profits.”

Jay Conrad Levinson, Author, The Father of Guerrilla Marketing, Author, “Guerrilla Marketing” series of books with over 14 million sold; now in 43 languages.

49 Marketing Secrets is a practical guide containing expert marketing advice from specialists who have succeeded in developing profitable businesses.

This is the perfect book for small business owners who are looking to jumpstart their stagnating profits. If you have trouble understanding how marketing will help you grow your business – you have come to the right spot.

  • 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) contains:
  • 9 Thinking to Win Marketing Strategies
  • 8 Branding and Corporate Image Strategies
  • 6 Media Strategies
  • 3 Networking Strategies
  • 9 Technology-Based Marketing Strategies
  • 6 Event Strategies
  • 8 Sales Strategies

“Wow. A wealth of info that only a fool would ignore.” Robert Schepens, President & CEO, Champion Staffing

To purchase this book ($19.95), go to your favorite online book store or contact Ron Finklestein for more details. He can be reached at 330-990-0788/ron@akris.net.

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Nine Principles for Inspired Action: A New & Targeted Perspective

What others have said…

“Amazing! This book is the result of studying over 500 successful business owners. It’s amazing how they all exhibit the same behaviors. Best of all, this book documents these behaviors in nine principles you can use to super-charge your business and your life!”

Jason Oman, Creator & #1 Best Selling co-Author of Conversations with Millionaires

Nine Principles for Inspired Action: A New & Targeted Perspective resulted from four years of research with 500 successful small business owners (startups through $50M in revenues).

The research indicated successful business owners implemented these nine principles in their business and this implementation (in many cases) was not done consciously.

Through years of trial and error these business owners discovered what worked and built their business using these principles.

The Nine Principles are:

  • Intelligent self-interest (Getting selfish, selfishness is good)
  • Ownership (I created this I can change this)
  • Results (Identifying what works)
  • People (Our success comes through others)
  • Persistence (Learning to fail forward)
  • Focus (Just two questions)
  • Discipline (Creating success habits)
  • Ideas (Just a few)
  • A New Definition  of Success

To purchase this book ($14.95), go to your favorite online book store or contact Ron Finklestein for more details. He can be reached at 330-990-0788/ron@akris.net.

 

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The Platinum Rule for Small Business Mastery

What others have said about The Platinum Rule…

 

“The ability to communicate effectively with others is the key to success and happiness. Tony Alessandra has [created] the most important, practical, and effective [concept] ever imagined.”

Brian Tracy, Author, Maximum Achievement

“What do Donald Trump, the Dalai Lama, Robin Williams, and Stephen Hawkins have in common?”

Actually, since you’re businessperson, that’s the wrong question. The question you should be asking yourself is this:

“If I were about to go into a meeting with Donald Trump, would I approach it the same way as I would a meeting with the Dalai Lama, Robin Williams, or Stephen Hawkins?”

If you answered “yes,” you (and your business) may be in for a heap of trouble. But, do you know why?

This book holds the answers – and shows you a better way—not just to conduct meetings or make sales calls—but to live your life. In this book some of the things you will learn:

  • Your strength and weaknesses
  • Common traits shared by successful leaders
  • How creating a company culture can lead to success
  • Why creating measurable, repeatable and predictable processes can save your company thousands of hours every year
  • How to motivate, compliment, and counsel each employee in a way they will best receive it
  • Market to your prospects the way they want to be marketed to

To purchase this book ($19.95), go to your favorite online book store or contact Ron Finklestein for more details. He can be reached at 330-990-0788/ron@akris.net.

Celebrating Success! Fourteen Ways to Create a Successful Company

What others have said about Celebrating Success…

“Celebrating Success! Fourteen Ways to Create a Successful Company, should be required reading for all business owners and managers. If more business people read this excellent book, there would be far fewer business failures, more satisfied customers and higher revenues and profits.”

Dr. Tony Alessandra, Author of People Smart and Charisma

Celebrating Success explores the people who take risks and face fears. It details business owners who ask hard questions, create a strategy and stick with it.

There are three primary actions successful companies exhibited:

  • The business owner radiates a positive attitude and takes responsibility for the direction of the business.
  • The business owner creates and implements a sound business strategy.
  • The business owner exhibits the discipline to focus and stick with the strategy.

It may sound simple, but as you read through each case study, you’ll see the soul-searching tenacity required to implement the principles outlined in Celebrating Success.

The larger the company the more of the fourteen principles that were implemented.

To purchase this book ($1.95), go to your favorite online book store or contact Ron Finklestein for more details. He can be reached at 330-990-0788/ron@akris.net.

Sample Newspapers/Websites Where Ron Has Been Quoted

Ron Finklestein has been interviewed and quoted in several newspapers from around the country. They include (a partial list):

Akron Beacon Journal

Chicago Tribune

South Florida Time: Miami

MSNBC.com

Entrepreneur.com

Small Business Trends

Numerous Blog, websites and podcast from around the country

Orange County Register

Newspaper Articles

What Successful Businesses Have in Common
These 14 traits show up again and again when examining the reasons behind business success.

By Ron Finklestein

Entrepreneur.com

Updated: 1:26 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2006

How does a small company become successful? Despite the bad news we so often hear about the number of small businesses closing or moving, the news really isn’t all that bad: Thousands of small businesses startup every year, and a good percentage of those companies have learned what it really takes to survive the early startup years and become successful enterprises.

After working with dozens of small companies, I discovered that the successful ones share some common traits. Here, then, are the 14 qualities I’ve witnessed in many of the thriving small businesses I’ve worked with:

Company culture. Culture is defined as the “integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior that depends upon man’s capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.” For successful companies, culture is about attracting and hiring the people who would be most successful in that specific organization. And it’s about driving the behavior that makes the company successful.

Customer service. Simply defined, customer service means taking care of your customers. Many companies integrate customer service into their business culture through training and the design (and frequent redesign) of relevant business processes. In most cases, the business plan dictates how they will provide quality customer service.

Attitude. As the owner of the company, you must have a positive attitude and accept 100 percent of the responsibility for the results of your business. When you accept responsibility, you can act to make the necessary changes to accomplish the desired results. Then, when success is achieved, you’re generous in giving credit to others within the organization. Without exception, the most successful business owners understand that it’s all about people: hiring and retaining the right people, eliminating ineffective people and providing the necessary resources for employees to master their tasks.

Business strategy. A complex strategy or business plan isn’t necessary to achieve success. A simple one-page document will do, but it should be well thought out and well executed. A poorly crafted business plan that’s well executed is far superior to the well-crafted business plan that sits on the shelf collecting dust. A good business plan defines and drives the activities and behaviors of the entire organization. Without it, the business becomes a ship without a rudder; it simply can’t be steered and ends up going around in circles. A sound strategy should include a financial plan, marketing differentiators, and product strategy as well as a plan for employee retention.

Discipline. Discipline is all about executing the strategies and then staying the course. It’s about staying focused on your core markets and measuring success as defined by your business strategy. It’s not about overreacting to market changes and adjusting your core strategy to keep up.

Risk. Successful business owners aren’t afraid to take calculated risks with clear outcomes in mind. Most owners who take risks do so because they recognize the need to change as the economic climates changes, and they understand it’s disastrous not to embrace change. Successful business leaders understand that being in business is about managing and responding to change. Companies that succeed embrace change and respond to challenges presented by the market, the competition or changes in general business conditions.

Financial roadmap. An important attribute is the creation of a financial roadmap and budget–and then having the discipline to follow it. A financial plan reminds owners where and how to spend money, and it provides ways to measure progress or shortfalls. A sound financial plan is the cornerstone of a great business plan.

Business processes. Another frequently credited attribute of success is the streamlining of business processes. We call this “creating predictability.” Unfortunately, this is probably the least understood task a small-business owner can take accomplish. Business processes are how things are done within a business. Every company has some processes; some are clearly defined, others are implicit. The intention here is to increase productivity and reduce costs while generating the same (or better) outcomes. Successful businesses understand the need to continuously improve their business processes: to become more efficient and productive, and to respond to market changes faster while providing better service to customers.

Information technology. While technology is important, it doesn’t have to be complex or costly to be effective. Effective technology is probably the most important enabler for change that a company can introduce.

Marketing. Effective marketing efforts perform different functions around unique selling environments. For example, business-to-consumer enterprises have completely different marketing needs than business-to-business companies. Having a good understanding of the pains your clients are experiencing and how your product and services stop that pain can help you understand just how to market to your customers–and that’s critical to business success.

Sales. Every company’s approach to sales is different. Some depend on building referral partnerships and strategic alliances, and this is the extent of their sales process. Others aggressively attack the market with direct-mail campaigns, cold calling and other forms of direct customer contact. The specific selling approach a company uses is usually defined by its marketing plan. Successful owners know that the concept of selling is a process that can be measured and improved, like all business processes. They talk about the importance of having a consistent, measurable and repeatable sales process, and they engage professional sales trainers (with flexibility to customize training to their selling environment) to help create consistency within their selling process.

Training. Because we live in a world of continuous change, it’s more important than ever to implement a culture of continuous learning. For many successful owners, continual investment in training is a major contributor to success. For training to be successful, however, there must a direct link back to the business plan and an understanding of how training supports the successful implementation of the business strategy.

Team of advisors. Without exception, every successful business owner I’ve worked with has talked to about how having trusted advisors is necessary for success. They know they can’t know everything and they searched out advisors they could trust. They usually preferred to pay for this advice because they were looking for someone who would challenge them, hold them accountable, ask them important questions and introduce them to others who could help them when necessary.

Work/life balance. Successful business owners understand that every person has just 1,440 minutes in any given day and how they spend this time directly impacts how effective they’ll be in growing their businesses. Smart entrepreneurs successfully integrate their social lives into their business lives: The client who purchases a product today gets invited to the lakeside cabin the next weekend. Clients become friends, and co-workers become like family. These entrepreneurs build their lives around their business, and it’s almost impossible to distinguish between their social lives and their business lives.

Ron Finklestein is a business coach and the owner of YourBusinessCoach.net. He is also the author of Celebrating Success! Fourteen Ways to a Successful Company.

Copyright © 2006 Entrepreneur.com, Inc.

 

© 2006 MSNBC.com

URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11622815/

 


Ron Finklestein is an accomplished Sales Training Coach and Consultant for small businesses. Professional and public speaker. International business author.

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