Developing great communication skills will set you apart from the rest of the pack.

Think about what skills you need:
• Masterful Listening Techniques – do you really know what your
customer needs and why? What is his pain? Can you hear it in what
he says and in how he says it?

• Tone-Setting Body Language – Do you know when to mirror your
customer’s body language? Does your body language set the tone for
better or more frequent communication with your customer?
• Just-Right Intonation and Rate of Speech – Does the way you talk
inspire energy and action from your customer? Or do you find your
customer drifting off to other topics or bored with your
product/service? Does the customer “get it” that your product or
service resolves his pain?
• Powerful, Persuasive Voice Control – Do you sound influential? Does
your voice put people at ease so they freely open up to you about their
pain? Or do you sound tense, nervous, disorganized, whiney, slow, or
bored?

You already know the message you want your customer to hear. That’s the easy part.
And no matter how often you say your 60-second pitch or go through your sales material,
there are people who will not connect with that message; they just won’t “get it”. One of
the reasons is because, in general, your message will only resonate when WHAT you say
and HOW you say it match.

HOW you say your message makes all the difference. And there is an art to this. Before
you head off to that next big call, think about the feeling you want to leave with your
customer; the emotion you want to share. For example, consider that you might want to
start with a warm, friendly message and follow up with a confident, powerful, or
influential message.

Each feeling you want to convey can be portrayed by
1. descriptive word
2. mental picture or image
3. matching body language

Prepare for your call by making sure your style of communication (the HOW) matches
your message. To start off with a warm, friendly message:
1. Think of a key word which evokes warm, friendly feelings: “tender”, “calm”,
“sunshine”, “cozy”. Repeat that one key word to yourself several times with
emphasis until you feel it.
2. Picture the mental image. Visualize hugging a child or your spouse, wrapping up
in a blanket by the fireplace, walking along the beach in the bright sun. Make the
picture clear and vivid.
3. Change the sound of your voice by changing your body tone and placement.
Smile. Talk expressively with energy. Move. Make your movements BIG.
And to continue with power and influence:
1. Think of a key word which evokes a sense of power and influence: “strong”,
“firm”, “confident”
2. Picture yourself in that manner. Imagine being the greatest story teller, or the
greatest of all coaches, a uniformed commander, THE expert speaking to an
audience glued to your every word. Now visualize yourself giving your intended
message. Picture yourself calm, in control, in the zone.
3. Body Language: If you want to be powerful and influential, stand up. Perfect
posture. Use strong hand gestures. Don’t walk around much. Maintain good eye
contact. Don’t look at objects in the room; only people. When speaking on the
phone, don’t let your eyes wander. Make eye contact with a picture of a
person…speak to her.

Ellen Dunnigan
Accent On Business
ellen@accentonbusiness.net

In this issue, we will examine why cash flow is also crucial to those owners who wish to transfer their companies to insiders (employees, co-owners or children) and how to allocate cash flow.

Let me suggest the following definition of cash flow. Business cash flow is the portion of the annual net cash flow from operating activities that remains available for discretionary purposes (after the basic obligations of the business have been met). Because we are discussing cash flow in the context of exiting your business, the “discretionary purpose” referred to above is the purchase of your ownership in your company.

As you prepare to transition out of your business (using any type of ownership transfer other than liquidation or, in some cases, a gift of the company to your children), it may be imperative that you secure an accurate future cash flow model. Why?

In a sale to insiders (employees, co-owners or children) cash flow may be the source of the buyer’s payment to you. The future cash flow of the business after you have left it may be the source—the sole source, at least initially—of payments to you. Insiders may not have enough money of their own with which to pay you. Without significant planning and implementation, insiders may not be able to suddenly acquire that cash or the ability to borrow any.

If you choose instead to sell to a third party, the valuation upon which any offer will be made may be based on a multiple of cash flow.

Should you plan to sell part or all of your business beginning in 2010, you, or better yet, your CPA, will need to make cash flow projections for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. If you are preparing your own cash flow projection, you must resist the temptation to create an overly-optimistic forecast. Your projection must be grounded in the reality of past actual performance rather than in your rosy hopes for the future. For this reason, owners usually ask their CPAs to create these forecasts.

Once a realistic cash flow projection is prepared, you will use it to plan the most tax-effective way possible to achieve that future cash flow. It bears repeating here that the future cash flow of the business may be your buyer’s only source (at least in the early years) of funds to pay you. If the company, under new ownership, cannot achieve the cash flow numbers that you projected, you may not receive the payoff that you expected.

How to Use the Cash Flow Forecast

Forecasting cash flow is the first step. The second is to calculate how that cash flow will be allocated during the ownership transition. Determining the net after-tax distribution to you is the goal of this exercise. To do so, you must calculate, for each year of your exit plan period the expected available cash flow (excluding payments to the business owner) less the cash the company must retain (for growth, working capital, etc.). The remaining cash flow is paid to you as compensation (salary, bonuses, and/or deferred compensation) or it is distributed to the shareholders (you, and to the extent you have sold part of your company, the new ownership). The distributions received by the new ownership, less taxes of 35 percent to 40 percent, is then paid to you.

The cash flow you receive is the sum of:

1. compensation, bonuses and deferred compensation;
2. payments for stock sold to new ownership; and
3. distributions of cash flow based on your remaining ownership.

The net after-tax annual cash you expect to receive combined with your non-business income sources (such as retirement plans, personal investments, etc.) must be sufficient to support you after you leave the business. If the combined amount (business and personal) falls short of meeting your lifetime income/financial needs, your departure date must be delayed or your financial expectations must be adjusted.

Your Exit Plan must integrate your exit desires (when you want to leave, how much money you want and need, and who should own the business after you) with the reality of the likely future cash flow from the business. Forecasting cash flow and the uses of that cash flow is, indeed, the ultimate reality check for your business exit.

Article presented by T. Ray Phillips, CFBS, AEP, ChFC with The Family Business Legacy Co., LLC, is a member of Business Enterprise Institute’s Network Of Exit Planning Professionals™. © 2009 Business Enterprise Institute, Inc. To contact T. Ray Re: subject matter in this article, call (317) 208-6312 OR e-mail trphillips@finsvcs.com

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this article is general in nature and is not legal advice. For information regarding your particular situation, contact an attorney or tax advisor. This newsletter is believed to provide accurate and authoritative information related to the subject matter. The accuracy of the information is not guaranteed and is provided with the understanding that none of the providers of this newsletter, including Business Enterprise Institute, Inc., is rendering legal, accounting or tax advice. In specific cases, clients should consult their legal, accounting or tax advisors.

The example provided is hypothetical and for illustrative purposes only. It includes fictitious names and does not represent any particular person or entity.

Financial Planning, Securities, & Investment Advisory services offered through MML Investors Services, Inc. 900 E. 96th St., Ste 300, Indianapolis, IN 46240. Phone (317) 469-9999. Please do not leave trade instructions over e-mail, as they cannot be processed.

Circular 230 Disclosure: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS under circular 230, we inform you that any U.S. Federal tax advice contained in this communication, unless otherwise specifically stated, was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (2) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any matters addressed herein.

© 2006 – 2007 Business Enterprise Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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“Google Insights,” http://www.google.com/insights/search, allows you to compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames.

1. Searching “ipad” across U.S. Metro regions and also Indiana, reveals which cities are early adopters of technology and can give you insight into where you should direct your marketing. If you want to focus on the technophiles, market to cities and metros at the top of the list. If you have a strategy of bringing user-friendliness to the technologically challenged, focus on those on the bottom. By the way, West Lafayette has the most prolific “ipad” searchers in Indiana (see below).

Note: when you search with Google Insights, you will get only the top 10 results, unless you register, access the csv data files at the top right of the page and download, in which case you will get all the results.

Here are the results for “ipad” across U.S. Metro regions and cities, plus Indiana, ranking by relative number of searches. Be aware that the Metro and city data may be different. For example, San Francisco, the city, ranks #1 on ipad searching; however, throwing in Oakland and San Mateo, etc., in the Metro, puts the Metro quite a ways down. The value of this data, beyond the suggestion of where to focus your marketing, can extend to looking at trends within the most technologically cutting-edge areas, and then bringing that trend to your own area before others exploit it.

The specific search (cut and paste if you like):
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=ipad&geo=US%2CUS-IN&date=11%2F2009%204m&cmpt=geo

ipad search
Top metros for United States
Metro United States
Santa Barbara 100
Waco-Temple-Bryan 95
Springfield-Holyoke 82
Flint 68
Tucson 66
New York 65
Honolulu 64
Las Vegas 63
Austin 62
San Antonio 60
Omaha 59
Greensboro 57
Syracuse 57
Buffalo 57
Richmond-Petersburg 57
Hartford 57
San Diego 56
Oklahoma City 56
Salt Lake City 56
Birmingham 55
Los Angeles 55
Nashville 54
Portland-Auburn 54
Providence 54
Milwaukee 53
Madison 53
Houston 52
Portland 52
Miami 51
Philadelphia 50
Indianapolis 50
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 50
Jackson 50
Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York 50
Norfolk-Portsmouth 48
Baltimore 48
Boston 48
Chicago 48
Columbus 48
Grand Rapids 48
Minneapolis-St Paul 48
Denver 48
Atlanta 47
Dallas-Fort Worth 47
Cincinnati 47
Rochester 47
New Orleans 47
Greenville-Spartenburg 46
Louisville 46
Burlington 46
Phoenix 46
Pittsburgh 46
Orlando 46
Seattle-Tacoma 45
Sacramento 45
Tampa 45
Detroit 45
Raleigh-Durham 44
St Louis 43
San Francisco 42
West Palm Beach 41
Charlotte 41
Cleveland 40
Kansas City 39
Washington 36

ipad search
Top cities for United States
City United States
San Francisco 100
New York 94
Austin 90
Los Angeles 84
Pleasanton 81
Washington 79
Irvine 77
Philadelphia 76
San Diego 76
Seattle 74
Dallas 72
Minneapolis 72
Miami 71
Boston 71
Chicago 71

ipad search
Top cities for Indiana
City Indiana
West Lafayette 100
Bloomington 88
Indianapolis 33

Just for fun, try:http://www.google.com/insights/search/#geo=US-CA-807%2CUS-IN&date=11%2F2009%204m&cmpt=geo and see that facebook en español is hot in San Francisco

Look for some trends you can be the first to bring to Indianapolis.