PowerLink May 30, 2022, Blog: 4 Lessons Learned from the May PowerLink Advisory Board Meetings of 2022 – “The Art of Turning a Single Project Customer into a Long Term (Recurring Revenue) Customer” and a Sneak Preview of the June Sessions….
This month, PowerLink worked with hundreds of small business owners who attended one of our 50+ Community Advisory Boards, Custom Advisory Boards or Private one-on-one mentoring sessions over Zoom. The topic was one that everyone has been dealing with: How do you turn a single project into many projects over many years? All of our owners faced similar dilemmas this month. So, we shared our Zoom stage with our EIR’s and guest advisors to review four “One to Many” strategies,” a way to create long term business for your company.
In 90 minutes of talking, writing, sharing, laughing, and listening this month, here were a few of the Lessons Learned from May 2022 among Powerlink Small Business Owners across the United States about “The Art of Creating a Long-Term Customer”
1. “I had a very large customer early in the company. We had underpriced the services and about halfway through I went to him pleading to renegotiate. I thought we would be in a long-term relationship because he had many other projects like this one. But not only would he not allow me to adjust the price, he said he would have never hired me if I had charged more. I learned my lesson and started looking for customers who believed in long term relationships with their vendors.”
2. “I successfully turned a one-time clean up after a big construction project into long term maintenance work with that client. I also have used that strategy with other clients. I found out later that even huge companies use this same strategy.”
3. “I started offering a low-cost monthly service to do additional work after a large job. Almost all my project customers took me up on it. I now have 20 monthly customers that generate almost $40,000 in monthly billing.”
4. “Annual Customer Meetings…” I started a program where I meet with every single customer from this year from August to October about next year. Sometimes it gets a little hectic. But I put it on our calendars as an Annual Review. Some years that can be three Annual Reviews per day! But that is when my customers are planning their budgets for the following year. If I miss that window, I can’t work with him next year. What’s cool is I now know by November what my next year is going to look like.”
5. “Turning One into Many” created hundreds of great ideas this month! The discussion around this was lively! A big thumbs up to our Executives-in-Residence: Harry Edelman, Sherry Jordan, Patricia DiVecchio, Doug Stone, Brian DeCelle, Jimmy Lourenco, Tia Baker, and Brenda Dare (special thanks to Brenda Dare from Dare Enterprises who was guest speaker at most of our April sessions on Effective Delegating).
June Topic: June for PowerLink owners means the end of Q2 “Rocks” and a second quarter gut check. How am I doing, really? They will be asking themselves the toughest question of the year: (1) Am I clear about where I want to take my business now that I’m six months into 2022? (2) Am I clear about the top three business challenges (“Rocks”) I must overcome in the remaining six months of the year? (3) Am I clear about how I am delegating some of these tasks to others? (Employees, contractors, sub-contractors, or vendors). We are also asking our owners to share an Operations Manager job description and compensation plan that worked (or didn’t) in June. This is a key hire for many of our owners! Sharing is encouraged.
Calendar of Events: PowerLink June 2022:
Here is the Calendar for June 2022 (Community Advisory Boards). If you are not already registered and interested in joining any group, just email or text us. The first few meetings are always complimentary if you qualify for one of our scholarship programs. Thanks to a multi-sponsor scholarship program through PNC Charitable Trust, Standard Bank Foundation, FNB Bank Foundation, Huntington Bank and Citizen’s Bank, we may be able to lower program fees to as low as $25 if you qualify.
If you are new to PowerLink or returning but not registered through the program, let us know if you want to register for any of the monthly meetings in June over our Zoom platform by texting your contact info to 412.721.3186:
Wednesday, June 8, 2022: 11-12:30 am Pittsburgh East—PowerLink Without Walls II – Community Advisory Board to promote growth and new business strategy. June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire an Ops Manager?” EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. Register by text to Harry Edelman, Regional Director at 412.389.5297 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
*Thursday, June 9th, 2021: 8:00-9:30 am Harrisburg/York Regional Community Advisory Board sponsored by FNB Bank to promote growth and new business strategy. June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire an Ops Manager?” EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. Register by text to Sherry Jordan, PowerLink Regional Director at 814.881.8106 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Monday, June 13, 2022, 4:30-6 PM Executive CEO Circle and Manufacturers and Makers --$1 million and more (open to our larger PowerLink companies, manufacturing companies and alums anywhere in the US with $1 to $10 million growth and income goals). June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire an Ops Manager?” EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. By invitation only. Register by text to Harry Edelman, Regional Director at 412.389.5297 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Tuesday, June 14, 2022: 8:30-10 am Succession Only CEO Circle—only for companies intending to sell their business, buy a business or pass it to their children or employees in the next 5 years (for our more mature PowerLink companies anywhere in the US. March Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire a General Manager?” EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. Register by text to Harry Edelman, Regional Director at 412.389.5297 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested. Facilitated by an experienced Exit Planning specialist with a passion for helping smaller companies exit successfully.
Tuesday, June 14, 2022: 4-5:30 pm City of Pittsburgh Businesses sponsored by Citizen’s Bank—to promote growth and new business strategy. June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire an Ops Manager?” EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. Register by text to Harry Edelman, Regional Director at 412.389.5297 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022: 2-3:30 pm: Westmoreland County CC Community Advisory Board sponsored by Standard Bank: to promote growth and new business strategy. June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire an Ops Manager?” EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. By invitation only. Register by text to Harry Edelman, Regional Director at 412.389.5297 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Thursday, June 16, 2022: 3:30-5 pm Washington County Businesses sponsored by the Peters Township Chamber of Commerce and Huntington Bank—to promote growth and innovative new business strategies. June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire an Ops Manager? EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. Register by text to Harry Edelman, Regional Director at 412.389.5297 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022: 8:30-10:30 am Purposeful Business Circle (for startups and micro-businesses generating $2000+ in annual revenue or working on testing and growing their new business concept). Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
(NEW) Tuesday, June 21, 2022: 11 am-12:30 pm: PowerLink without Walls I for Small Businesses Anywhere in the World —to promote growth and innovative new business strategies regardless of your location. For owners doing $150,000+ in annual revenue wanting to hit $1M in the next 5 years). June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire an Ops Manager?” EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
*(NEW) Tuesday, June 21, 2022: 3-4:30 pm: Penn State PowerLink Community Advisory Board for Contractors Only—if your business is connected in any way to facilities, construction, design, renovation or maintenance and you want to grow through private sector and government contracting, this group will limit its discussion to only construction/maintenance related marketing and new business strategies. June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? Guest advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
*(NEW) Wednesday, June 23, 2022: 5-6:15 pm Downtown Washington, PA Businesses sponsored by Huntington Bank and PCRG—to promote growth and innovative new business strategies in the urban/merchant areas of the City of Washington. June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire an Ops Manager? EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested. Or you can contact Doug Stone at dougstone97@gmail.com.
*(NEW) Wednesday, June 30, 2022: 8-9 am Retail Only Community Advisory Board (open to retailers and downtown/urban location businesses) to promote growth and new business strategies beyond bricks and mortar street traffic. June Topic is How to Hit My 2022 Revenue Goals with 6 Months Left in the Year? And am I ready to hire an Ops Manager? EIR advisors presenting and interactive advising at all sessions. Also share your own revenue strategies. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Also note that our June session will also let everyone share their key Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down update from May and let the group help “crush” that challenge with insight based on experience, lessons learned and mentoring. These meetings are private and confidential. You must register in advance to attend as a guest.
Have a productive and prosperous Summer 2022! A.
Anita Brattina, CEO and Board Chair, PowerLink
3367 Babcock Boulevard, Suite 101, Pittsburgh PA 15237, 412.721.3186
www.powerlink.org | anita@powerlink.org
“Helping small and emerging companies achieve their next level of success through access to executive and CEO advisors.” A Pennsylvania 501(c)3 corporation.
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