People today only buy

what makes sense.

 Don’t believe it!

Excerpted from comments by Hal Alpiar published in today’s issue of  COMMUNICATION EXPRESSWAY ISSN: 1544-8312 Better Business Communication Judy Vorfeld – www.ossweb.com March-April-May 2010 – Issue # 74

     Assessments surfacing about today’s consumers being more savvy, more rational-minded, more interested in authenticity, and less susceptible to some of the more trite expressions that have long passed their days of influence is – in most entrepreneurial minds — 100% correct.

     Where business owners and managers need to depart though from what is being said is that these kinds of comments tend to lead owners and managers down the path of focusing their business marketing messages on rational, logical, unemotional, product and service features alone (i.e., ingredients, warranties, greenness, discounts, etc.) when — in fact — every consumer purchase has been repeatedly proven to be emotionally-triggered.

     That is not to say that price is not important or that features and rational chunks of sales pitches and marketing pieces should be abandoned or sidetracked. This kind of information is required by consumers as justification for their purchases — and more so today than ever before because of speed-of-light information access, and an economy that demands closer dollar-value scrutiny.

      Case in point (which, in concept, applies equally to every conceivable product or service purchase) . . .

      You probably tell everyone all the reasons that you buy a particular vehicle: it gets great mileage; it is ranked among the top in safety tests; the manufacturer is reliable; the warranties are among the best available; parts are easily and inexpensively replaced and service is readily available. And monthly payments? They’re at an all-time low. Sounds great, right? Kind of makes rational, unemotional, authentic mouths water? (Or at least drool a little?)

     The truth is (which you would never own up to in public) that the real deep-down reasons you bought the vehicle are that you think you look good driving it, and that the salesperson wasn’t pushy.

     These dynamics, by the way, are the same for seemingly rational purchases like insurance policies, accounting services, a can of beans, or the daily newspaper.

     So, the bottom line is that while rational, logical information needs to be presented as a marketing cornerstone, it’s always going to be an emotional trigger that makes the sale. But we shouldn’t abandon one approach for the other. They need to work in tandem. It’s what makes great marketing so challenging, and why so few really understand how to do it effectively.

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116

Open Minds Open Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Sounding Important

Counts For Nothing!

     Yes, even in this “knee-deep-in-muck” economy, when smart people are being more innovative and more customer conscious, there are still pompous idiots floating around the business world with no backs to pat except their own. One would think that at least a sliver of reality might have set in, but there they go, parading by in all their ornamental pomp and ceremonial circumstance: The EGOpreneurs.

     Know any?

     Maybe I’m just imagining things when I check out an online business profile and read about how many years of great experience will come to play when a needy (and the suggestion is, incompetent) business owner is smart enough to engage this person’s consulting services instead of (the only suggested alternative) floundering around on her or his own.

     The consultant of course chooses to completely disregard that Mr. or Ms. Business Owner just happened to have succeeded at bringing his or her business this far to start with. But that’s not important if you’re smart enough to hire this guy because Mr. Egopreneur Consultant here has worked with some of the biggest name companies in existence. Aren’t you impressed?

     Hey, “20+ years” of being a “revenue generation strategist”  is nothing to sneeze at. (He figures out ways to make money; it’s not likely he knows anything about how to implement the strategies but, well, he figures that’s what you’re good for.) Besides, you might want to give Wonder Boy some slack because he’s so highly trained to fit your needs.

     The exampleI cite boasts of degrees in religion and political science (oh, and a minor in anthropology). Hard to imagine anyone not succeeding with that combination. I mean first you can rip people off, and then pray for them when you dig up their bones in a few years. C’mon, relevance and track-record are what count. As the old sports agent movie made famous: “Show me the money!”

     Yes, I have preached long and hard to business owners and sales professionals that you only get one chance at a first impression. The point though is that the best impression anyone can make is the one that doesn’t TRY to make an impression. Proven performance speaks louder than words.

     AUTHENTICITY is the word that comes to mind . . . along with: GENUINENESS (skipping the BS). TRANSPARENCY (no hidden agendas; you see what you get). EMPATHY (putting oneself in another’s shoes). REALITY (not living in or talking incessantly about past or future fantasylands). FLEXIBILITY (being ready and able to avoid expectations and go with the flow).

     These six important qualities are the intangibles that define the difference between success and failure, and that point up the separation between people you choose to do business with over people you choose not to do business with. Use all six to weigh the conviction of your involvement with others.

     If you want to make a difference with your business, in other’s lives and your own, steer clear of EGOpreneurs. They give entrepreneurs a bad name, and all their talking counts for nothing.

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

AIN’T NOBODY

WRITES

NOTHIN’ NO MORE!

     For those of you out there who can still actually write with a pen and paper, consider yourself in possession of a unique skill (even if your handwriting resembles the scrawl of your favorite nearby brain surgeon, or your neighbor’s cocker spaniel . . . probably can’t tell them apart! Uh, the writing).

     And you can be assured your handwriting is a skill that’s underused, especially if you own or manage a business or are in professional sales. I lump those entrepreneurial and sales careers together because if you own 0r manage a business, you sell. And if you’re in sales, you own or manage a business.

     So here’s the thing: AIN’T NOBODY WRITES NOTHIN’ NO MORE.

     Don’t believe me? Just look around and what do you see? PCs, Laptops, Cellphones, BlackBerries, Strawberries (Oh, sorry). You really have to search to find a pencil behind some one’s ear anymore, and fountain pens? That’s like discovering a pygmy tribe living in midtown Manhattan.

     Think about the times in your life when you’ve seen business people step up and do something unique, something different for their business or their customers or their employees or their suppliers, and you think to yourself: Self! That’s an idea I wish I had though of first because no one else is doing it.

     Well, here you go — a great new, FREE idea for you that I GUARANTEEwill make you stand out from your competition, regardless of whether you’re a farmer, a rocket scientist, a realtor, a proctologist (okay, well maybe not a proctologist), a website designer, an undertaker or wedding planner, an accountant, a lawyer (though I don’t distinguish much between a lawyer and a proctologist), a retailer . . . you get the idea.

     Dig out that old pen you forgot about; find some nice (unlined) notepaper that’s been collecting dust in the back of your desk drawer. Practice a few freehand swirls of ink on your local newspaper, which is not much good for anything else these days, and get ready to fire off some genuinely appreciative notes to present and past customers/clients/patients who have been particularly supportive of you or who are especially interested in you and/or your business products and services.

     You will get more attention and more mileage out of 100 personal handwritten notes, than you will out of 500 emails or 1000 text messages, or 5000 Tweets. I won’t even bother to waste your time with a visit to the dim prospects offered by US Postal Service incompetence no matter how great you think your direct mail campaign is.

     Do I guarantee these numbers? Of course not. But I absolutely guarantee — given the exact same message — a handwritten, personalized, hand-addressed and hand-stamped note will outperform all the solicitation glut that’s pouring out of our computerized lives. All you have to do is think of what to say, then say it in your own scribble. Oh, and Hallmark cards don’t do it either. Their commercials make you cry maybe, but their words are not your words, and they are machine-printed.

     Besides that no one else in your marketplace is doing it, what makes this idea so outstanding? People like real. Spill on the ink and it will smear. If your writing is great, great! If it’s crummy, great: what other messages do your customers actually work at trying to read? Say what you think. Say what you feel. Keep it short and sweet. But DO it. I promise you’ll be amazed at the responses you get!   

 Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless our troops “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

How to bypass

banishment

to the social media

basement of

business blunderers…

     Don’t let the hype-artists intimidate you into thinking there are some kind of magical secrets you need to know in order to make social media work for your business. Sorry for the sprinkling of reality, but the “magical” part is simply common sense, and the “secrets” are nothing more than common courtesies. 

     There is just the first name of the thing to be tended to: Social.

     If Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and the others were intended to be all about business, they would have been called business media. But, Aha! They are social media, which means that if you choose to bring your business to a social gathering spot, you’d better be willing to lighten up and socialize.

     If you instead insist on being a pushy, boorish business type (even if your comments are entertaining), you can count on being left standing in some damp, dark, obscure corner looking forlornly at all those who are having fun bippity-bopping around. You won’t just be feeling left out, by the way, you’ll actually be getting deleted, disconnected, and blocked by the socializers. (Now there’s a concept!)

     Imagine! People hooking up and chatting with one another for the sake of hooking up and chatting? Now that’s not to suggest that all the millions of business-minded, entrepreneurial folks out there cannot go to the party, and cannot talk business. But — like handing out business cards at a wedding — you’ll go further with your pursuits if you focus on being discreet.

     Realize that the vast majority of social media users (“followers” and “friends”) are actively engaged for personal gain and well-being, to look and feel important, and to chit-chat freely with friends, family, acquaintances, and complete strangers in the mad rush of what we have come to call life in our ever-less-personalized, busy, instant communications hi-tech age.

     In other words, if you’re going to go on or into any of these social networks, attempting to hawk your wares or services, you need to remember that you’re a guest at the party that’s catering to friendships, acquaintances, and life issues. If you overlook basic courtesies and fail to indulge in some friendly banter because you’re so focused on selling, you will be banished to the basement of business blunderers!

     And, it is that — first and foremost — that business moguls must remember: Always thank your host and hostess or, in this case, those who mention you, who connect with you, who introduce and applaud you, and even those who disagree with you. Don’t pass up any chance to express your appreciation and gratitude to others by name.

     Start out timid. Brash crashers are viewed the same in social media as they are at a real party. If you stick to an agenda of being discreet, polite, friendly, and caring, fellow followers and friends may even outright welcome your sales spiels . . . especially when what you have to say changes frequently and gives others pause to think about, laugh at (be careful here!), or learn from.

     Best to stay clear of the same topics you are generally best to stay clear of at a real party — religion, politics, family laundry, and sex (not necessarily in that order). Remember the alternative: basement banishment is not typically a pleasant experience.  

 Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless our troops “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

“Whaddaya, nuts?

My business

is shrinking.

What’s to expand?”

In the “Flower Power” 60’s with psychedelic drug influences on music, clothes, and lifestyles of people who’d grown up with the Lone Ranger, there emerged what had to be the greatest name for its time for a music group that I ever heard. I haven’t a clue about anything they recorded, but I always thought they earned the gold medal of rock group names: TONTO’S EXPANDING HEAD BAND.

     I thought of this name today for some reason, and was prompted to address the subject of business expansion in a still-rotten-and-getting-rottener economy where most businesses are tucking in their tails, cutting corners, and consolidating at every opportunity. Withdrawal, though, is not always the most advisable action to take when the competition heats up and pickings are slim.

     “Yeah, but our budget is slim too, and the last thing we can afford is to expand what’s already suffering; it’ll just create more suffering!”

     BRRRAAAAAAAAT! (That’s a basketball court sound.) Time Out! As truth will have it, if indeed you really think you need to be bailing out the boat instead of adding a swim platform, you are probably:

1. working for the government (probably the dead and dying Postal Service; but, then, you wouldn’t be reading this), or 
2. a major corporate executive (probably a hospital administrator type who’s big on efficiency and outcomes; but, then, you wouldn’t be reading this either!), or 
3. a small business owner who’s lost sight of how you got started, and you may have gotten so beat up by the A and B guys above, that your entrepreneurial spirit has risen on up into the Ozone, and left you struggling to survive. Sound familiar? No? Good! But if it does . . .

     Guess what? You still have what it takes, and so does your business. Remember the sports training we got as kids? The best defense is an offense . . . stop blocking punches and start swinging!

     To effectively expand your business in an economic choke-hold, you need first to allow your brain to expand, and you’ve probably been pulling in the reins on your innovative thinking in order to pay the bills. Reality is though that there are plenty of ways to expand while others are shrinking, without murdering your finances!

     You need to look harder at what you’re doing. How can you offer more to customers without spending more? Instead of 9-5, can you stagger work hours and stay open instead from 8-6? Or re-think coverage possibilities for Saturdays and/or Sundays?

     Can you hand out free appetizers to customers who have to wait for dinner? (You don’t run a restaurant? This example applies to EVERY type of business. Consider how some version of it might work for yours!)

     How about expanding your marketing efforts with a service like www.BizBrag.com that allows you free website postings of your news releases and promotional flyers, and then sends them out to your target email list besides (also free!)

     Shall I go on or will you just counter with excuses? Are you choosing to seek new pathways or choosing to simply settle for excuses about why new pathways won’t work? Hard times mean survival of the fittest. Hard times also mean that those who choose to step it up, make waves, and expand their horizons by expanding the the ways they do business, will thrive.

     What can you do better or more of tomorrow morning than you did today? Money need not be a growth issue.

Expand your mind to expand your business.    

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless our troops “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

“Hot Diggity,

dog-diggity,

BOOM, what you

do to me . . .”

–PERRY COMO [Yeah, I know; he was before your time.]

     If you’re not celebrating your customers (clients/patients) regularly, it may be time to question priorities. In case you missed one of my past blog post references, it costs five (5) times as much money to get a new customer as it does to keep an existing one!

     And in case you haven’t noticed, or it’s escaped your awareness, existing customers send you new customers. Prospects don’t send prospects.

     Many small businesses and professional practices get to grow up and be big businesses and professional practices by catering to the customers they have. The best source of business is existing and past business.

     Cold-calling is essential to any meaningful sales strategy, but it needs –ALWAYS– to take a back seat to nurturing your existing and past customer base because that’s your bread and butter, and because your customer base will drive many more prospects to your door than you’re going to be able to ferret out for yourself with cold-calls.

     HOW to kick some customer catering and appreciation into gear? Have a party. Host a customer-families-only midnight sale. Email out 72-hour discount special certificates. Send “Thank You” cards out at Thanksgiving and birthday cards on birthdays. Call together a focus group discussion (with appropriate rewards) to review your service pros and cons!

     Offer discounts or credits for referrals. Send in that charitable donation you make every year in the names of your customers. Feature your customers in your newsletter and/or in a series of news releases. Post the releases free on www.BizBrag.com and have BizBrag email them out for you to whatever list you provide — also free!

     Make “How goes it?” followup calls. Imagine actually getting a phone call from a restaurant, accounting firm, or construction contractor just to ask if your last visit was a good one, and what could you suggest to make the next visit even better? (How would YOU feel? Who would YOU tell?) And do this REGULARLY with existing clients.

     Parties and all that stuff too expensive right now? Make it a bagels and coffee breakfast stop-by reception for customers only. Combine forces and split up costs with neighboring businesses; you’ll even gain customers from one another in the process.

     No time? Hand the idea or the event off (with $25 cash or credit, or sports or concert  tickets, or dinner for two, or a limo trip?) to a relative or student intern or employee to organize and promote.

Whatever you do, do something. Try AAA:

Customers like being Appreciated, Acknowledged and Asked!  

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or email Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting.  Go for your goals!  God Bless You!

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

“When Push

Comes To Shove,”

Keep Customers

Out Of The Way!

     Protecting your customer base at all costs needs to be Priority One. When people have purchased your products or services in good faith, they are putting their confidence in you and the business you own , manage, or represent. If you screw up that relationship and lose their trust, you have lost a great deal more than a customer or two.

     Long-time idol of mine, Roy H. Williams, Chief Guru of Roy H. Williams Marketing, Inc., and author of what may arguably be the best two essay collections ever written on the spirit of advertising in the universe of American business. The two book set. The Wizard of Ads and Secret Formulas of The Wizard of Ads were published in 1998 and 1999 respectively by Bard Press, Austin, Texas. 

     In his Secret Formulas collection, Williams quotes study findings from Technical Assistance Research Programs of Washington, DC, that you should know about. Chew on these highlights for a couple of minutes:

• For every customer who complains, 26 more will not.
• Each of these 27 unhappy customers will tell 16 others about their bad experience.
• Do the math: Every negative complaint you hear represents 432 negative impressions.
• By the time you hear a particular complaint 3 times, the problem has been mentioned to 1,296 people.
• It costs five times as much to attract a new customer as it costs to keep an old one.
• 91% of your unhappy customers will never buy from you again.
• But a focused effort to remedy complaints will get 82% to stay with you.

     Williams concludes this 2-page revelation with the three questions  to ask unhappy customers (calmly, genuinely, and without a defensive attitude) that he says (and I agree) “will bail you out every time”:

1. WHAT HAS HAPPENED?
2. WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED?
3. WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE IT RIGHT?

     I might add that the best customer service businesses are those businesses without customer service departments and personnel. When all (every single) employees are trained to put themselves in the customer’s shoes, there should never be a need for the expense and excess baggage that a customer service group tends to burden a business with.

     Bottom line: When you accelerate arguments and draw customers onto a battlefield, you lose. Even if you win, you lose. Can your business afford all the negativity attached to your or your staff members’ short fuses? A little stress management works wonders and keeps customers coming back.

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless our troops “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day! 

Decide what you

want to do.

Decide what you

can do.

Decide what you

will do.

     When you determine what you want to do, what you can do, and will actually do INSIDE . . . then go OUTSIDE.

     Too many small business owners start out thinking too big on the OUTSIDE. They march into major marketing and ad agencies, PR firms, media and branding service and management consulting companies, waving investment or borrowed money to engage services they not only can’t afford, but don’t even need to begin with.

     Here’s where common sense gets lost in the shadows of egos.

     You own, manage, operate a business or professional practice. You don’t need outsiders coming in and telling you what your vision or mission statement should be or how to manage your customers or employees or suppliers, or how to sell or maintain your operations.

     You already know how to do these things and nobody else can do these things like you can.  

     You are the heart of your business.

     What you see and hear and think and feel about it is your unique perspective. You can pay outsiders to pretend they get it and pretend they know essentials that you don’t. But they don’t. Until your business grows to mid-size, the only genuine and justifiable outside assistance you’re likely to need (besides perhaps technical website design and maintenance)  is with creating, developing, and delivering the words you use.

     Crafting your communications messages and approach is best done by a proven wordsmith who can demonstrate ability to capture the essence of your business and your “voice” (the ways you express what you think and feel about your business) and put it into appropriately persuasive language. 

     Your branding theme-line needs, for example, to explain what your business is all about, what you do and what you provide, tell a story with a beginning and a middle and an ending, be memorable and/or clever . . . and use seven words or less!

     That kind of writing takes a special skill. Making applications of that theme-line work positively in news releases, brochures, websites, social media, direct mail and other traditional advertising forms takes a special skill.

     For a small business, thinking OutsideIn —hiring a large marketing or PR or advertising agency or consulting group to attack tasks like these–  is a dangerous practice. It is typically a colossal waste of money, time and energy. To make matters worse, the likelihood is that any such efforts will only succeed at winning industry awards for the “team” you recruit. Rarely if ever do these arrangements produce real sales.

     Make it your first line of defense to always work your business from the InsideOut

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless our troops “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day! 

WHAT SPORT IS

YOUR BUSINESS?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

When was the last time you dribbled across the infield and took a jump shot from 2nd base? Or slam-dunked a hockey puck over the goalpost? You went curling and used a nine-iron instead of a broom?

I once heard a corporate executive describe his company as roller derby because “all we ever do is race around in circles, bashing each other in the teeth, putting on a good show for our public, but nothing ever seems to get done or go anywhere.”    

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

     If you own or manage a business, you sell! If you’re in sales, you undoubtedly equate the sales field with the football field, and see youself running around right end, punting, passing, tackling, huddling, and occasionally at the 11th hour and the 50-yard line “Hail Marying” your way to a sale/no sale decision.

     Football legend Vice Lombardi spent years making motivational training films for salespeople because he saw how direct the sales and football analogy was. A full court press may force a basketball turnover, but cost game-losing vulnerability in many other sports. Are you playing the same sport as your customers? Your competitors? Your vendors?

     So, what sport is YOUR business? ASK AROUND. Other’s answers may surprise you.

     Your honest answer gives important clues about your business strengths and weaknesses, as well as about your business image, reputation, and uniqueness. And those clues establish business patterns which point to professional and financial growth and development opportunities.

     Many family businesses fail to row the same boat in the same direction, or are busy ducking one another while playing ping-pong with golf balls. (Ouch!) 

     Is the sport you choose to best represent your business a team sport? Do people act like teammates? Any team spirit? Cheerleaders? Playmaker? Coach? Go-to guy?

    OR is the sport you most identify with a superstar sport? One person makes all the decisions all the time about everything, from trash disposal methods to sales and marketing and financial management and customer service and answering every phone inquiry?

     In the boxing ring there is but one fighter doing battle with another. The rest are support people. Very high competitive risks for very high potential payback, with the possibility of being rich and brain dead. Well, you could always be a politician . . .

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless Our Troops (“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!”- Thomas Jefferson)  Make today a GREAT day for someone!

J & J Leadership

Lessons

 Go Far Beyond

BandAids!

     We are witnessing now one of the world’s worst oil leak disasters. It could have been drastically minimized with immediate action. 

     Instead of responsiveness, however, we had eight days of Presidential foot-dragging in order to be preoccupied with more important issues, like trying to push Goldman Sachs over the edge of the political cliff without toppling in over them, and hosting a reception for the New York Yankees, among other such critical demands.

     Ah, but after eight days, when the White House finally did decide to step up, determined to save a token pelican or two, some key federal-titled muckity-mucks were actually “dispatched” with orders to report back in 30 days.

     Right, 30 days! How long would it take anyone you know who lives on a coastline to tell you that on top of 8 days of hundreds of thousands of gallons a day worth of leaked oil, we are destined to inevitably see that oil along the Eastern Shore? How about 30 minutes?

     WOO HOO . . . a little too little too late! Imagine taking this approach to respond to a business problem. You’d be out of business. Or, you’d be big-time up to the tops of your hipboots in debt with expensive apolgetic and advertising media expenses. Ask Toyota.

     Either way, the problem multiplies exponentially when responsiveness is not present. Without a sense of urgency built into your leadership position, your business is only as strong as the last time you took swift positive remedial action.

     The classic textbook example was, of course. when Johnson & Johnson handled “The Tylenol Scare” of 1982. They acted poste haste and authoritatively.

     J&J management breeds leadership. It doesn’t matter that you might have a mom and pop grocery store (are there any of those left?) or a 3-person home-based business, there is much to be learned about crisis management from the way J&J dealt with this potential disaster:

• Apologize immediately and completely.
• Act immediately.
• Tell ALL.
• Follow up.
• Stay invested in the solution and be transparent.

     Bottom line: RESPONSIVENESS.

     When you tackle a major problem head-on and immediately, the biggest risk you run is being accused of being over-zealous. What’s that compared to lost lives, lost environment, lost trust, lost credibility? The important distinction to remember here is the difference between reSPONDING and reACTING.

     When you reACT, you run the immediate risk of OVER-reacting, and that puts you out of control. When you reSPOND, you are acting with control, and you are ensuring increased odds of success. Seeking a practical control tool? Take some deep breaths!

Click Here to work with Hal NOW!

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless our troops because “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!