Shhhh…The Secret’s Out! In The Best Secrets of Great Small Businesses, Entrepreneurs Divulge 500 Tips, Tricks, and Tactics You’ll Never Learn in Business School

Chicago, IL – Put a dozen successful small business owners into a room and what do you get?

A whole bunch of ideas on how to run a business. Not untested ivory tower theories, but proven, in-the-trenches, real-life solutions.

If you were a small business owner, too, wouldn’t you just love to be a fly on the wall when that conversation begins?

Well, now you can be. Because 500 meetings later, one of their own has given us a peek at their private playbook.

In his new book, The Best Secrets of Great Small Businesses, veteran facilitator Ray Silverstein gives us the first look inside one such an entrepreneurial think tank, also known as a small business peer group.

Peer groups are made up of freethinking business owners who meet regularly to share challenges and solutions. No subject is off limits. No problem is too big or too small. Together, they’re developing strategies for boosting productivity, slashing costs, and leapfrogging over their competition.

And now you can listen in. For example…

• Meet William. Fed up with windy, unproductive managers meetings, he now passes around an egg-timer to limit each speaker’s report (page 34).

• Consider Karen. She abolished her employees’ Christmas bonuses and—defying expectations—boosted morale and productivity. The secret? Adding a performance-based incentive plan (page 142).

• Take Mark, who made the mistake of hiring his General Manager’s slacker son. Rather than alienate his GM by firing his non-performing firstborn, Mark privately hired a recruiter to lure the young man away. (page 178).

• Then there’s Annie, who found herself in financial trouble. Instead of filing for bankruptcy, she approached her creditors privately and declared an “Informal 11.” Her creditors were willing to work out payment plans with her…and two years later, she’s back on her feet (page 199).

These are just some of the strategies that Silverstein shares in his newly-published book, which covers a range of tricky topics in the areas management, marketing, sales, human resources, finance—even succession planning.

Silverstein, who has more than 40 years of business experience, began forming peer group advisory boards more than a decade ago. An ex-CEO twice over, he understood firsthand the challenges small business owners face.

“It’s lonely at the top, all right” says the founder and chief facilitator of President’s Resource Organization, or PRO.

“Small business owners have no board to consult with, no one to share in decision making with. They’re on their own. The beauty of peer groups is that fill this void—and if you do it right, it’s fun.”

Silverstein, a recognized small business expert, has been quoted in INC., Entrepreneur, and the Wall Street Journal and writes small business column, ‘Advice from the Pros,” for The Business Ledger in Chicagoland.

Best Secrets is organized into short, entertaining essays that can easily be digested a few at time, making this an ideal keep-in-your-briefcase read. In addition, Silverstein’s
60-second diagnostic tests allow small business owners to quickly identify their company’s strengths and weaknesses and take corrective action.

All in all, the book divulges more than 500 inventive business strategies.

“We’re simply tapping into the power of the peer group,” says Silverstein. “In this case, the whole truly is bigger than the sum of its parts.”

Silverstein also likes to quote an obscure Japanese proverb: “None of us is as smart as all of us.”

Ah, hah! Now the secret is out.

To interview Ray Silverstein, please contact Lekas & Levine PR at 847.327.9530 or JoannePR@aol.com.

ISBN:1402207662 • $14.95 • September 2006 • Available at bookstores and amazon.com