Dear {FirstName},

We hope you've been enjoying your Monday Morning Motivator. If you've received this issue for the first time - welcome aboard! It only takes a couple of minutes to start your week off right with the MMM! Be encouraged by the success or great ideas of others in your business community.

Ready To Play Leapfrog?

This week Roy Williams helps us forecast what to expect in 2009 and how we can be prepared to leapfrog our competitors.

What To Expect In 2009

The coming year will be fun, adventure-filled and profitable for people who have their wits about them.

A number of small business owners are positioning themselves to overtake their much larger rivals.

Will one of these companies be yours?

Not many years ago, General Motors and Circuit City were the dominant players in their categories. Today they’re both on their knees, having made the same mistakes:

1. They took their fingers off the pulse of the customer.

When you believe your marketing pipeline will allow you to dictate what the customer will buy, you’re in danger of being leapfrogged. In 1960, General Motors sold nearly 60 percent of all new cars. Today, even though Chevrolet maintains 4,200 dealerships, Toyota sells more cars than all 5 GM brands combined through just 1,400 locations.

 LESSON: Having the right product is more important than heritage and convenience.

2. They quit taking risks.

When companies achieve success, they usually quit innovating and become guardians of the status quo. But yesterday’s perfect processes are obsolete tomorrow. Vinyl records were replaced by 8-track tapes. 8-tracks were replaced by cassettes. Cassettes were replaced by CDs. And now CD’s are being replaced by MP3 players. The same is happening with business practices.

LESSON: Success, like failure, is a temporary condition. Never assume you've arrived.

The leaders are going into hunker-down mode. They’re cutting back their advertising, assuming that everyone else will cut back as well.

When a leapfrogger sees a leader’s brake lights, he hits the accelerator. Are you beginning to see what I meant when I said, “fun, adventure-filled and profitable?”

Here are the trends to watch in 2009:

1. Frivolous purchases are being delayed.
We’re wearing our clothes longer and keeping the cars we’ve got. We'll buy what we need, but only after asking whether we really need it.

2. We're buying fewer things, but better things.
More attention is being paid to quality. Only the poorest are choosing by price alone. Information is king. Details are power. This is good news for makers of better products.

3. “Sustainable” is a concept that will grow in power for at least 10 years.
The lifestyle of the 80's and 90's was "upwardly mobile" and its leaders were marked by "conspicuous consumption." But the chosen lifestyle of the next generation will be "sustainable," meaning that we'll strive to live within our means and embrace practices that are environmentally responsible.

Want to be a leapfrogger? Give us a call, we're here to help.

Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.

Drago

PS - One of our favorite projects this year was for JustAskBaby.com, we did a series of web video episodes for them. To see one of our favorites click the following link Go2Productions .

PPS - We also wanted to say Thank You for allowing us to meet with you every Monday Morning. This has been an incredible year of growth for us, the MMM had a subscriber base of over 2000 people in January and here we are in December with over 15,500 subscribers we are truly grateful and humbled by the positive comments we receive weekly. We would like to take this opportunity to wish and all your families a Very Merry Christmas and all of God's Blessings and Peace in the New Year!

Success Profile

This week we would like to recognize Awni and Sherri Abu-Ulba and their amazing team at Spa Utopia.

Spa Utopia is an award-winning Spa & Salon; with many stylists who have accumulated provincial, national and international awards and recognition. Awni & Sherri have truly created a world class facility as their name would suggest. They invite you to any of their three locations to experience "The Utopia Difference" or you can go online to purchase your loved one the coveted "Red Envelope Gift Card" it's always a welcomed gift! To find out more visit SpaUtopia.ca

The Adam Advertising Group is proud to play a small role in the on-going success of many of the companies featured in the MMM.

Can The Adam Advertising Group help your business, or do you have a success story we should hear about? Contact Drago Adam at drago@AdamAdGroup.com
or call 604 937 -8886 or 1 866 923 - 6477

PS : We wanted to say Thank You for sharing your Monday Mornings with us, and also for the positive feedback we receive weekly. The MMM started three years ago with 35 subscribers, today's issue is going out to over
15,527 Weekly Subscribers.

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