September 7, 2008

Dear Fellow Business Leader:

Imagine having a job like this...

You are about to leave port as the first-ever captain of the largest, most prestigious ship ever to set sail. This will undoubtedly be the highlight of your already successful career.

"You lucky dog," your friends tease "you're the captain of an unsinkable ship!"

You'd like to argue with them, but what can you say? Everybody -- including the ship's builders -- claims that it really IS unsinkable. The newspapers picked up on the hype, and they've been writing about it for months.

The year is 1912. You've just been named captain of a brand-new ship called the Titanic.

And somehow, the reputation of the ship only makes you nervous. VERY nervous.

Now, let's fast forward 96 years...

How does this relate to YOUR business?

As a business leader, I'm sure you can relate with the nerves of that captain.

There are a lot of people who are "on board" with your organization. Customers, employees, managers... probably some investors too. Most of these people consider your business to be fairly watertight... in fact, they're on board for the long haul.

But as the leader... the "captain" of your organization, do you ever find yourself awake at night worrying about the details?

Do you ever fret about what you can't see -- just beyond the horizon? Do you ever feel like there are more details to think about than you can possibly manage?

While others in your organization are enjoying the ride, it seems that SOMEBODY has to think about this stuff.

You are absolutely right. In fact, there are TWELVE key areas in any business -- regardless of its size -- that must be working well to keep things afloat. I'll tell you about those twelve areas in just a moment, but I have an important promise to make first.

Here's my promise to you.

If you'd like to finally discover the real benefits that come with leading a business -- more time to do what YOU want to do, and more money in your pocket for those extra "perks"...

...if you're ready to start enjoying vacations with your family and sleeping great at night without worrying about the intricate details of your company...

...if you miss the feeling of "punching out" at the end of the day or the end of the week with the satisfaction that you've really made a difference...

THEN READ ON!

When you finish reading this you will understand all twelve areas that must be working effectively in every business.

Plus, you'll get an IMMEDIATE assessment of your organization's strengths & weaknesses. (Check the time... when I say "immediate" I'm talking about less than 30 minutes from now!)

The 12 Key Areas Every Business Leader Must Understand...

I've worked with a lot of organizations over the years. In fact, I've worked with more than 150 firms over the past year alone -- doing work that directly impacts thousands of employees.

Before I started, I underestimated the importance of these 12 key areas. But since I've seen the inner workings of so many organizations I've discovered something remarkable -- and a little scary:

If your organization neglects just ONE of these 12 key areas, it will be like that 1912 iceberg that did the impossible to the Titanic.

The best way to understand these areas is to think of your business as a flagship.

The flagship has 12 important parts:

	The Helm is the locus of leadership. This is the center of all decision-making in a company. This is where the owner, as the Captain, presides over the fate of the ship. Orders must emanate clearly and intelligence relayed back in order for the vessel to arrive at her destination on time and in good shape. This area of assessment will let you see exactly how well your company's leadership can govern the ship, deal with challenges, and keep the team all rowing in the same direction.
	The Hull is the body of the ship. In an organization, this represents the Captain and the crew. It also describes the working culture onboard. All other parts of the ship are irrelevant if the hull is breached or in disrepair. Without a strong hull, the ship will sink. Without a well designed team with a winning culture, the business will fail. This area will show you how well your company can work together, creatively solve problems, and adapt to and overcome obstacles. It also reveals the ability of your company to execute its plan and exhibit job function discipline.
	The Sails are what give the ship its primary thrust and forward motion. Likewise, without sales, no organization can succeed for long. The locomotion of the vessel depends on the quality of the construction of the sails, their design and ease of use, their predictability and responsiveness. At the heart of every business lies a profit center. At the core of every profit center is sales. Obviously, this is not just an analysis of current sales revenue. This portion shows you how sales are made, how leads are converted, how contracts are won, and how well the entire sales process is measured, systemized, and focused.
	The Oars are what keep the ship moving when the wind unexpectedly changes direction. An organization that seeks sustainable success must have revenue systems in place to keep things moving forward while protecting against unexpected changes that occur in the market (sea). As the Captain, you need to know the capacity of your ship for dealing with market changes, specifically as it affects cash flow. This area measures your company's strength regarding forecasting, budgeting, and financial contingency planning.
	The Keel is what keeps the ship from tipping over and increases the Captain's ability to navigate more accurately under pressure. The keel affords the ability to seize opportunity and represents the power needed to respond to and dominate the market. Another aspect of the keel is how the target market defines your company in relation to its competitors. The keel is a ship's market dominance capacity. Clearly any serious business must be measured in terms of market, competition, and strategic advantage. In this area your company's market capacity, strategy, and focus are precisely charted.
	The Rudder is all about execution - it guides the ship's direction in the water. In the company, the rudder represents management and its ability to take orders from the Captain while executing the plan on a day in/day out basis, in any weather. Management is not just a title or rank, it is also a key component of every job function. Therefore, it must be well-defined, systemized, measured, and implemented. This is perhaps the single most underestimated aspect of the ship. Your company must be precisely measured in its ability to execute. You don't need "best case" - you need to know what they can do when the pressure is really on.
	The Crow's Nest is the only place on a ship where the Captain can see all parts of the vessel with a holistic perspective. Great Captains use the crow's nest to see what is really happening with decision-making. The crow's nest represents your company's financial strength. From the crow's nest you can see the economic consequences of every action taken. You are also provided with a pinpoint understanding of the way finances are analyzed to reveal the quality of decision-making, forecasting, and course correction. Every person on board is making decisions with economic consequences. Our assessment finds out if they realize this or not.
	The Compass is the Captain's tool for navigation. It helps leadership understand where they are in relation to a constant. A company's strategic vision is the compass that guides and provides the basis for all job functions, systems, and processes. It is the organizational compass - the Captain's primary tool. A good compass is a lot more than just a statement or hum-drum slogan that becomes irrelevant the minute after it's printed. A true Strategic Vision must be an ethos that defines everything and everyone on board. You will see whether or not your company has a quality vision that is compelling, measurable, clear, and actionable...or not.
	The Masts support the sails (sales) and deliver the power of the profit centers to the rest of the ship. The masts represent the capacity of the customer service, production, and development segments. Without strategic integration and cooperation between the sails, masts, and rigging, (the three combine to represent a profit center) market opportunities drift by like the wind. Again this points to execution. Your business may have great pieces but do they seamlessly fit together to get the job done? This question will be answered in abundant clarity for you.
	The Rigging represents all the processes necessary to make the ship run smoothly. On a real ship the rigging is the lines and ropes that hold everything in its proper place. In your organization, the rigging represents its process equity: the level, sufficiency, integration and value of the systems, policies, and processes. Process equity is the true value of the way work gets done - it defines what can happen without the micromanagement and handholding. Knowing the level of process equity is vital for any Captain because it reveals the degree of uniformity and repeatability of the business processes. You need to know how your business can consistently duplicate its success.
	The Cannons represent the organization's ability to deal with the "pirates" before they get too close to the ship. This is the ability to proactively deal with and anticipate challenges instead of having to be in constant reaction, constantly putting out fires. The cannons are the ship's strategic workflow planning. We recommend loading them and firing often. You have to be told about your ship's ability to design the workflow and optimize efforts. A great idea, stewarded by an out of control visionary is nothing more than an exercise in futility. In this area you will be informed of the exact degree of chaos permitted in the day to day operations and the ship's ability to manage information, customers, and processes.
	The Flags are what people see, hear and feel. This is what your ship uses to signal to its target market that "their ship has finally arrived." In the company, the flags are the company's marketing. The flags communicate the message while making the value proposition undeniable, effective, and clear. Marketing is not about manipulation, it's about making a promise that your company can keep every time. In this area you will be presented with a detailed analysis of how well your ship can market, understands appropriate demographic, psychographic information, and purchase patterns among its target market. Many dollars are wasted on hype advertising because of a lack of clarity in this area. Let us help you gain clarity so you can measure twice and cut once.

How is YOUR company doing in these 12 areas?

Alright, take a deep breath.

We just QUICKLY touched on each of the 12 key areas. As you can see, all of these things need to work together to keep your company moving forward.

When sharing this with business leaders, I sometimes hear comments like:

"Eric, that's a nifty metaphor, but I don't have the time
(or money... or people...) to worry about all of these things."

And you know... they are right.

They don't have time to worry about them. What business leaders really need is:

A brief but effective assessment of their organization in all 12 key areas
A summary that shows which areas need the most attention
A prioritized list which helps them know what to focus on, and in what order.

That's exactly what you'll get from my Flagship Assessment™. You can have your very own, customized Flagship Assessment™ Report that shows both the strengths and the weaknesses of your organization. And you can have the final report just a few moments from now.

Here's how you can get practical & valuable feedback... today

By following the steps I'll cover in a moment, we'll send you to our Flagship Assessment™ Questionnaire where you will answer a series of questions about your company.

After answering the questions, you'll receive immediate feedback on your company in each of the 12 key areas. You'll be scored on all 12 areas... leadership, team, sales, secondary income, market position, management, finances, strategic vision, customer service, process equity, long range planning and marketing.

You'll get so much more than a "pass" or "fail."

Here's What You Get:

• A comprehensive assessment tool that looks at 12 key dimensions of a company from the inside out.

• A pinpoint analysis of your company's barriers to growth

• A holistic view of the following:

  • Company’s Strategic Planning Capacity

  • Company’s Defined Market Space & Strategy

  • Competitive Landscape

  • Company’s Ability to Execute

• A concise summary of your company’s structure and marketplace presence

Your Flagship Assessment™ Report will include the following feedback:

1) Organizational Performance Quotient - This aspect details the overall, big-picture capabilities of your organization from a performance basis. It also gives you a strategic summary of your company's trajectory.

2) Comprehensive Systems Ranking - This ranking provides you with a detailed list regarding which of the 12 areas need the most attention and in what priority. Here you will see the degree of effectiveness in your systems, people, processes, and plans.

3) Strategic Objectives Recommendation - You will receive a list of organized action items (Strategic Objectives) that will help you take decisive action to create an instant improvement in your company's profitablity.

How the Flagship Assessment Tool works:

• Facilitated on-line using 128-bit secure encryption

• Using a proprietary questioning methodology, you will respond to a series strategically designed questions and complete requested data about your organization and operational characteristics.

• Upon completion of the data entry, we contact you within 48hrs. and review the data to ensure accuracy and consistency.

• Once the information is confirmed, a comprehensive assessment is generated and emailed to your company.

Sample Summary report from the Flagship

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The assessment is the first step, but we won't stop there...

If you were going to pay a consulting firm to come evaluate your business in all 12 of these areas, you would easily pay $12,500 - $15,000 just for the initial assessment. But we're offering much more than an assessment.

By responding between now and September 30, I'll also include a FREE 50-minute consultation from one of our Certified Total Integration Consultants. Your consultant will help explain each assessment area ranking, confirm and verify key operational information AND give you a specific roadmap for improving your business... FAST. You'll have 30-60-90 day strategic growth objectives to make your ship truly sea-worthy.

But that's not all. You'll also get a FREE copy of our Strategic Module "Financial Radar." In it you'll learn the 20 key questions you and your leaders should ask every month to stay on top of your organization's finances.

This Strategic Module will save your organization thousands of dollars per month. It retails for $225, but we're including it at no charge!

What is all of this information worth to you?

Let's do a quick re-cap...

1) I'm offering you an in-depth Flagship Assessment™ with immediate feedback on THE 12 most effective control points in your business.

This tool will give you the information and the action steps you need to finally discover the deeper, rewarding benefits that come with leading a business -- more time to do what YOU want to do, and more money in your pocket.

Not to mention the satisfaction of truly "punching out" at the end of the day. When was the last time you experienced that?

Every day, business leaders are paying $12,500 - $15,000 for assessments that aren't half as thorough as the one you'll receive today.

2) You'll also receive a FREE 50-minute consultation with one of our Certified Total Integration Consultants helping you set your Strategic Growth Objectives.

Talk about value... you're getting 50 minutes of one on one, strategic coaching for FREE.

3) Finally, we're including a complimentary copy of our $225 Strategic Module titled "Financial Radar" which reveals 20 key questions you need to ask every month.

The numbers make your decision SIMPLE!

The difference that the Flagship Assessment™ will make in your business is worth thousands of dollars every month for the rest of your career. But don't worry... I'm not charging you thousands of dollars per month for the rest of your career.

The retail price for these same services usually adds up to right around $14,720. But don't worry... I'm not charging you $14,720 either. In fact, not even close.

Between now and September 30, your total price for EVERYTHING listed above is only... $495.

Why so inexpensive? Simple.

I want to empower business owners and entrepreneurs to create value and generate wealth in a way that will change their lives for the better.

Some people who try my Flagship Assessment™ will realize how much potential for improvement they have, and they'll want to get right to it. Some may want to take the assessment recommendations and do it themselves, while others will want to take advantage of our strategic system templates used by hundreds of businesses across the world, in all industry sectors. (Public, Non-Profit, Manufacturing, Service, Distribution, Retail, etc.)

Either way, the result is a business that works for you, by design.

I know that whatever you decide to do after receiving the assessment and free strategic coaching, that we will have helped you and your organization improve. That alone is quite rewarding for me, because when your business improves in the Total Integration method, you win, your family wins, your employees win...it's really a butterfly effect that can lead to a much better tomorrow.

So be sure to click the link below and try our Flagship Assessment™ today. You'll be glad you did!

Click here to order...
$495 one-time fee

Sincerely,

Eric J. Beck, Founder
Total Integration

P.S. If you respond today, I'm throwing in ONE MORE freebie. It's a 1-hour audio program I did with Bill Sanders, SVP Publicis USA, called "Eliminating Time Debt." It sells at my conferences for $64 but it's yours free when you try the Flagship Assessment™ today.

This audio program will help you get your energy and focus back... Free yourself and your organization from the burden of the clock... and help you start using time to your advantage. If you have tons of unread email, sticky notes everywhere, and an unending to-do list, this audio is for you.

Remember, the Audio Module is available today only,
and the rest of the package is only available
through September 30. Respond today!

Here's what our customers are saying...

Remember, the Audio Module is available today only,
and the rest of the package is only available
through September 30. Respond today!