In business, it’s truly inevitable that you will run into problems that result in critical clients. We’ve found there are two ways to handle a complaint or critical client as it relates to our agency:

1) Take the complaint or critical remark at face value and honestly inspect what is being complained about. Do not immediately push back with the client in an attempt to make yourself “right”. Investigate to see if you made an error or one of your people made a mistake. If you discover that you have, fix it immediately and turn the complaint into an opportunity to expand and get better at what you do. Every critical client or complaint has an opportunity attached to it. If you can use the critical remarks to strengthen your company, then take advantage of it.

2) If the client seems to be the type that complains about everything or is just critical in general – burn them, in other words, resign them and fast. Don’t keep critical clients around, they lower company morale which lowers production and therefore creates more problems for the company as a whole. We never keep clients that are critical and hurt the company morale. Only keep clients that are essentially working as a team with your company to solve problems together and are pleasant to deal with. I promise, this one rule will help expand your company tenfold.

No one likes getting complaints or dealing with a critic but if you apply the above two rules, you can turn both situations into an opportunity to expand your company. Give it a go.

- Robert Cornish

CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

Have you ever truly looked over the value of speed as it relates to your companies growth, strategies, sales, delivery and expansion? I personally rate this as one of the highest valued items in our agency and in any company.

Speed. How fast you can take an idea into execution to make that idea a reality. Speed is your friend and time is your enemy. Speed of delivery. How fast can you deliver your product or service with the highest level of quality. Speed of sales. How fast can you find your audience, prospect, sell and close them to create hoards of new business.

Speed is something you should measure, if you don’t already. People talk frequently about competition, what the other companies are doing etc. If you master speed, the truth is, there isn’t any real competition out there. Most companies are slow. Most people are slow. Competition is a highly overrated concept. Focus on speed and the “competition” becomes something that you view from a distance scratching your head wondering how and why they don’t get it.

Even looking at today’s economy, if people and companies operated faster, new companies started fasted, decisions were made faster, speed became a central and crucial element of the marketplace, we wouldn’t have a problem. The economy would recover swiftly and new fresh funds would be produced and circulated quickly.

Sometimes simple answers are the hardest to figure out but are ultimately the best solution.

Make a point this week and next to execute tasks faster. Speed up your cycles. Look at how you can take the time out of the equation on situations and your production will increase. Look at all the applications of speed and figure out how to put them into action.

- Speed of sales
- Speed of promotional ideas to get them into action
- Speed of quality delivery
- Speed of internal communications
- Speed of external communications
- Speed of news to the market
- Speed of promotional updates or changes such as websites etc
- Speed of hiring, training and executing actions
- Speed of meetings and phone calls

While this may sound a little overboard – it’s not, I assure you. There are slownesses all throughout your personal actions day to day as well as throughout your company and I promise, it’s costing you the game. Take speed seriously. Get disciplined about it and your “competition” will become a silly concept. Companies are slow, people are slow ….. take advantage of it.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

LOS ANGELES, CA, May 07, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ — New Media PR agency Richter10.2 Media Group (www.richter10point2.com) has launched its new pay per performance model. It was announced last week and Richter10.2 has officially started taking on new clients for this aggressively results oriented model

Last week, after having 5 consecutive months of highest ever client reaches delivered week after week, the partners at Richter10.2 decided to move to a true pay per performance model for their clients, with no money due up front from new clients and no monthly fees due until Richter10.2 delivers the promised product. The company founders, Robert Cornish and Wil Seabrook, felt confident, based on past and current client results, to step fully into a model that removes all risk for the client and puts it on their company. Robert, Richter10.2’s CEO, stated, “In this market we have seen prospective clients tend to be more cautious and conservative when making decisions. We wanted to address their concerns and relieve them of any worry about risk related to spending based on the single fact that we knew we would perform and earn our fee based on that performance. There are not a lot of companies who can take this type of stance financially. We are pleased based on our track record that we can.”

With Richter10.2’s pay per performance model, their clients have no upfront costs but rather work out their target public audience and the number of reaches (as specifically defined in their agreement) that need to be delivered to their business development team monthly. These reaches are real relationships with strong interest in the client’s products or services. Only once these targeted reaches have been delivered will the client be obligated to pay.

COO Wil Seabrook is also happy with the new approach. “Since starting Richter10.2 with a handshake and a great idea, we’ve been working towards a model where we could deliver not only cutting edge online and new media PR but give the client measurable, real world results that clearly impacted their bottom line. The number one complaint we’ve heard from clients and prospects is that in their past experience PR companies often talk a great game but can’t deliver the goods. We’re very pleased to say that we offer something no other PR agency can.”

Richter10.2 Media Group is a new media PR agency focused on creating reach and developing sales for their clients. For further information, please contact us at 727-447-3600

We recently introduced our Pay Per Performance model which takes all of the risk off the clients and strongly motivates our team to produce results. While discussing this over and over with many prospective clients, the question of a lead vs. a reach has come up frequently and so I wanted to write a brief note to clear it up.

While it’s easy to confuse a reach with a lead, they are distinctly different, one supremely better than the other. By the explanation below, I’ll let you be the judge to decide which one is better…

Lead: It’s just that – a lead. It’s someone that may have some interest. It’s a possible business connection or a possible business development opportunity.

Reach: It’s someone reaching, interested, with a relationship already established. They already know about you, have heard about you and have a general understanding of what you do and now they want more. It’s the diamond of prospective clients that you wish you had daily.

Now let’s look at the dictionary definition of each as taken from The American Heritage College dictionary:

Lead: 9. To begin or open with. To go first or guide. 3a. Information pointing toward a possible solution; 7a. The introductory portion.

Reach: 4a. To succeed in getting in contact with or communicating with. b. To succeed in having an effect on. 3a. Range of understanding; comprehension. 1. To stretch out or put forth; extend 3. To arrive at; attain

So from the above definitions, it’s clear that a lead is the start, an introductory part or a beginning and a reach would be much further along than that and in fact is closer toward the end of the cycle. A reach entails someone reaching out for something. The introduction and start have all taken place and now it’s at the point of stretching or reaching for more.

So as it relates to business development and new client procurement, which would you rather have?

Our agency exclusively deals with reaches for our clients … not leads. Our performance model is based on number of reaches which to me, is the most valuable thing to our company and and our clients companies.

For more information about our services, click here to view a presentation on SlideShare.

Over and over I notice many people and companies are out of communication, or at least have lethargic communication systems. What I mean by that is that they are slow to the draw, slow to reply, slow to take action or don’t take any action at all.

Communication is the very essence of business as well as the economy. The more you can create and the faster you can get it going, the more revenue flows.

Currently it seems there is quite a problem with communication. As a business owner myself, I find the importance of communication to be extremely high. I demand from my staff that a lot of communication go out to the world and more specifically, to our target audience. I also demand that we handle communication rapidly, as fast as we can, and keep our flows moving fast.

If I get an email related to someone interested in our company, we instantly reply to move the cycle forward. Phone calls are returned the same day and everyone in the company has a mobile device that allows for immediate response via email at any given time. Additionally, we developed the Social Media Press Kit (http://whywebpr.com/smpk) for the purpose of making ourselves more accessible in every imaginable way, be it text message, email, Skype, Facebook, Linkedin or to download our communication details through a vCard.

We rate communication highly. However I have noticed that not everyone operates this way. People delay in getting back via email or phone. They are slow to communicate many times, if at all. This type of operating procedure hurts them and their company. Procrastination has no place in the business world. Slowness is not a strength and being out of communication is damaging.

Take a look at your communication systems this week and test them. Do you immediately respond to emails? Phone calls? How much communication are you sending out to the world daily? Your company? Is that enough?

If handled, your revenue will skyrocket. Get yourself and your company into communication with the world. Send communication out, even if you simply start by sending out 6 hand-written letters per week or 10 emails to introduce yourself to people you would want to do business with. Get communication flowing and fast.

Robert Cornish
CEO
Richter10.2 Media Group

Making your company’s products or services known to the correct target public (audience) in order to gain interest and reach has been traditionally the most difficult part of sales.

How do your prospective clients find out about your company? How do you make the initial contact or the initial introduction to cultivate interest?

Times have changed. What used to work – going to companies door to door to get an appointment or cold calling a specific prospect to try to get 2 minutes are not as effective as they once were. New rules of business etiquette have interrupted these strategies. People are busy and they don’t want to be interrupted with uninvited visits or random phone calls.

We have experienced over and over that the name of the game is relationships and making smart introductions to the right people. The online world and, more specifically, new media have created an avenue to replace old systems of making introductions and building relationships with new ways that are generally acceptable in this day and age.

You don’t have to email blast 1000 people to hope for a response rate of 1-2% – you only need to make one connection, one introduction, to the right person with the right message to penetrate and gain interest and reach.

The methods of reaching out to prospective clients and making your company a known quantity as well as sparking interest have changed. Successfully adopted and utilized correctly, they will dramatically change your sales as well.

I am quite sure that the title of this blog is a little off beat but stay with me for a second… I realized the other day that fleas have a very strong strategy after doing a little homework on them due to one of my animals having them and I have been in full on warfare with the fleas ever since.

If we took the flea approach to business management we would discover many valid points related to a strong business strategy and operational management discipline. So here are the flea’s rules of engagement:

1. Persist – Never, ever, ever give up. The name of the game for any business owner or any person in business for that matter is sheer persistence. Persist on a given target no matter what the obstacle is and you WILL achieve your goals. Fleas persist and persist and persist, putting their enemy into apathy and winning small victory after small victory until their opponent is defeated and most likely moves or burns their house down.
2. Growth – Focus on ways you can grow, always. How can you expand your company, expand your team and spread your reach as far as possible. Always focus on aggressive growth targets and never contract. Strength in numbers. More staff, more clients, more market share, more awareness, more PR, promotion, advertising, etc. Fleas always grow and spread until they have dominated and taken over the desired territory.
3. Speed – Do it fast! Don’t hesitate for anything. Don’t delay decisions. Make fast decisions and even faster actions. Speed is the secret to your expansion. Slow actions relate to slow thinking and a slow company that gets sluggish. Be fast, use speed as your ally and be nimble. Fleas don’t hesitate to pounce on their target; they move fast and grow fast, quickly taking over what was once a virgin territory to attain their victory.
4. Attack your targets – Focus on what your targets or goals are and attack them head on. Don’t get distracted. Write them down and focus on what you are exactly going after. Be relentless with your targets until they are attained and checked off. Fleas focus on what they are going after and attack with ferocity in numbers to completely take over the target (cat or dog).
5. Become resistant to attacks – Develop a level of immunity. Don’t let attacks on you bother you or hurt your momentum. It’s all business and part of the game. You will get attacks from competition or unreasonable complaints from a few clients or other means of attack. Don’t let them phase you. Become resistant and continue to grow and expand regardless of the attacks. This will knock your enemies into complete apathy which will allow you to grow more. Fleas become incredibly resistant to sprays or shampoos or anything for that matter that tries to stop them.
6. Work in teams – Always work in teams. Work well and coordinate with your team. Business is a sport – treat it that way. Build your teams, encourage your teams and develop your team skills. Take your targets down as a team. Make sure your entire team understands and acknowledges the agreed upon goals and works together toward them. Fleas are experts at working in teams that build and build until they have completely taken over the target.

Here is to a prosperous 2010 with a flawless application of the flea management principals.

Cheers,
Robert Cornish
CEO
Richter10.2 Media Group

A few months ago I had a question about the Internet and so I did a little research and read the entire Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

It was a great experience since I deal with the Internet every single day, as do most of us.

I have found over and over that many people have mixed up concepts, mistaking the Web for the Internet or just generally don’t have a full concept of what it is and how it works.

My advice to you is to take the time to read the entire Wikipedia page about the Internet. It will dramatically improve your understanding of it and help clear up any concepts you had that may have been inaccurate.

-Robert Cornish

Happy Holidays from the team at Richter10.2 Media Group!

The NEW Social Media Press Kit is here. We have added a “Text Me” feature that allows anyone to send you a text message to your mobile phone instantly right from your SMPK, and you can reply directly to their phone. This new Social Media Press Kit has every feature you could need to network yourself or your company, elicit communication from prospective clients, provide all the information one could need about you or your company, all while making you and your company completely social media ready.

We also re-vamped the Social Media Press Kit site that explains the kit itself in detail, you can view that site here:

The Social Media Press Kit also comes with an email signature button that will help gain attention for you every time you send an email.

To learn more about the Social Media Press Kit, drop us a line:

http://www.richter10point2.com/contact.php

Richter10.2 Media Group