Every successful business owner knows about strategic planning. But this seminar will help you analyze and fine-tune your plans, to optimize your profits and growth. Ron will help evaluate your plans, and teach you how to critique your own initiatives using the Big and Easy Analysis.

In a group of other business owners and managers, you will receive input and advice from people who have probably conquered the same challenges you’re facing. Your strategic business plans and initiatives will be evaluated, prioritized, and refined.

The Big and Easy Analysis is a powerful tool, which Ron learned while working at Ford Motor Company after selling his salvage business to them in 1999. You will also learn how to utilize this tool internally, to keep your team members focused and motivated. Topics are varied and personalized for each presentation. Even in the toughest economy, some businesses prosper; this seminar will help make sure yours is one of them.

Who knows as much about your business as you do? Your competition. But you would never go to them for advice and you certainly wouldn’t share your inside information with them.

The solution is an exchange of information with NON-competitive colleagues … the cream of the crop in YOUR business, but ones who operate in a different market. Ron was fortunate to engage in this brilliant business group technique for over a decade, and his company grew, along with the other participants, to become the largest in the industry. Ron will share with you how to use peer benchmarking to help you become an innovator and leader in your industry. His book on peer benchmarking, which is scheduled for publication in March 2011, will give you additional tips on leveraging this powerful little-known tool.

Every entrepreneur hits a pothole now and then. Ron Sturgeon is one of the world’s experts on navigating those potholes and surviving them. Ron will present practical business solutions that entertain as well as enlighten.  Attendees will benefit from Ron’s often-humorous tales of his own experiences on topics ranging from handling an IRS audit to improving sales productivity. Ron knows how to get results, and he’ll share his secrets for motivating people to hit the target [pulling them through a keyhole].

Struggling to compete against consolidators? Ron will present ideas on how you can grow inside the cage with the 600-pound gorilla (He sold his $15mm business to Ford Mtr Co, then bought the entire subsidiary back 4 years later, with sales of $140mm, but losing $1m per month). You will also learn creative ways to survive price compaction from this seasoned entrepreneur.

Tired of hearing the word “no” from bankers? In this eye-opening presentation, Ron shares practical advice on finding a banker who’ll say “yes” and nurturing the relationship. “Few things are as important in growing a business as having a solid relationship with the right banking professionals,” says Sturgeon. With homespun humor, Ron tells you what business owners should expect in the new economic climate, pitfalls to avoid, and tips for getting the funding you need to succeed.

Ron’s new book, Getting to “YES” With Your Banker: A Practical Guide for Small Business Owners, is due out in November 2010. It is co-authored by the president of a multi-location community bank. Ron will share his insights (and battle scars) from his experience in the banking trenches.