Five Ways to Increase Profitability By Doing The Right Thing

1. Base your business in the Magic Triangle. Honesty, integrity, and quality are the three sides of the Magic Triangle of business success. Create the kind of company that stands for something more than the bottom line, and your bottom line will increase.

2. Stop worrying about market share. The world has more than enough customers for you. When you embrace abundance--the idea that the universe provides enough to go around--all the energy you've put into chopping down competitors can be channeled into productive, growth-enhancing activities. Example: By opening up the PC architecture many years ago, IBM dropped its market share--but created a vast expansion in the overall market (and its PC revenues).

3. Partner with your competitors. It may sound counter-intuitive, but competing and complementary businesses can become your best sales agents. The world's largest companies understand this--which is why Toyota and General Motors have product development partnerships, and why FedEx and the US Postal Service cooperate to deliver Express Mail and to provide FedEx collection points at post offices.

4. Understand the true brand experience. It's not your advertising and marketing--it's what happens when a customer attempts to do business with you. How helpful and courteous are your staff, both in-store and on the phone? How friendly and useful is your website? How does the customer really feel about working with you?

5. Turn customers into sales agents. At least one third of your business should be repeat customers or people they've referred. If you're still struggling to pull in business, either you haven't set up good systems to harness these super-profitable customers, or you need to address the deeper reasons why they don't return.

By Shel Horowitz, founder of the Business Ethics Pledge (http://www.principledprofits.com/25000influencers.html)

Copywriter, marketing consultant, and speaker Shel Horowitz is the author of six books and publisher of five websites, five webzines and three ezines. His two most recent, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First (http://www.principledprofits.com) and Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World (http://www.frugalmarketing.com) have both won awards. He's currently engaged in a campaign to get 25,000 people to sign--and spread--the Business Ethics Pledge: http://www.principledprofits.com/25000influencers.html

Ball State University Selects Campus Management's Talisma CRM and Fundraising ... MarketWatch (press release) 6, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Campus Management Corp., a leading provider of enterprise software products and services for educational institutions, today announced that Ball State University will implement its Talisma® CRM and Fundraising ... and more »

GraphOn hires VP, product management and marketing Bizjournals.com GraphOn Corp. said Monday it has hired Christoph Berlin as its vice president of product management and marketing. The Santa Cruz-based company (OTCBB:GOJO), develops cloud application delivery and Web-enabling technologies. GraphOn Appoints Christoph Berlin as Vice President of Product Management and ...MarketWatch (press release) all 9 news articles »

Bloomberg

Losses of Japanese Electronic Firms Worsen Bloomberg Enlarge image Panasonic Reports Highest Loss Ever Panasonic Reports Highest Loss Ever Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Attendees look over Panasonic Corp. products at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, US Play Video Play ... Sony, Panasonic Forecast Worsening Losses as Samsung DominatesBusinessWeek Panasonic yearly net loss to top $9 billionPakistan Daily Times Panasonic headed for record $10B lossToronto Sun all 108 news articles »

Mr. Carlos A. Contreras Appointed President, International Operations ... MarketWatch (press release) MIAMI, FLORIDA, Feb 06, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- BioNitrogen Corp. (BION) (pinksheets:BION), developer of a revolutionary patent-pending technology for converting renewable and abundant biomass waste into high-nitrogen urea and urea fertilizer, ... and more »

Taiwan smartphone maker HTC sees Q1 revenue lagging Reuters By Clare Jim | TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp expects to post much lower-than-expected revenue in the first quarter, underscoring analyst views that it will face another weak quarter and an uphill struggle to prove to investors it ... and more »

Bloomberg

Most Takeovers Since 2007 Spurred by Data Torrent Bloomberg Enlarge image Most Takeovers Since 2007 Seen Spurred by Data Torrent Most Takeovers Since 2007 Seen Spurred by Data Torrent Tony Avelar/Bloomberg Hewlett-Packard Co., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. led a 36 percent gain in technology deals last year. Big Year for Tech MergersBusinessWeek all 6 news articles »

DIARY-S&P 500 EARNINGS MONTH AHEAD Reuters ... 0.72 07 Feb AMC Q4 Life Technologies Corp 1.04 22 0.90 07 Feb AMC Q4 Lincoln National Corp 1.00 19 0.92 07 Feb AMC Q4 Western Union Co 0.40 27 0.38 08 Feb BMO Q4 Apartment Investment and Management Co -0.30 5 -0.33 08 Feb AMC Q4 Akamai Technologies ... and more »

HedgeCo.net

Former Sailfish Partner Naro Launches New Firm FINalternatives Sal Naro, former co-managing partner Sailfish Capital, is launching a new asset management firm, Coherence Capital Partners. The launch follows a management buyout of the core insurance business at Jefferson National Financial Corp., where Naro was a ... Hedge Fund Manager Sal Naro Launches Coherence Capital Partners LLCHedgeCo.net Former UBS fixed income head establishes New York boutiqueInvestment Europe all 6 news articles »

Tranzbyte Corporation Acquires ProximaRF MarketWatch (press release) Altitude Organic Corporation has launched its new management company strategy in Arizona. The company can manage, staff, consult, and provide uniquely branded products and concepts to medical marijuana dispensaries using a limited liability agreement. and more »

Corporate Bonds: Buyers Flock To Corporate Debt On US Jobs Data Wall Street Journal "People are really putting risk back on the table," said Mark Cernicky, managing director of fixed income at Principal Global Investors, which has $72.4 billion in fixed-income assets under management. Markit's CDX North-America Investment-Grade Index, ... and more »