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Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Tag Archives: marketing
Sales: Do You Have Customers or Clients?
Whether you have customers or clients is more than a matter of semantics. Some businesses use the term “clients” in an attempt to class up their image. Attorneys usually have clients. Kentucky Fried Chicken doesn’t, regardless of what they might say. Nordstrom? … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Marketing and Sales, Sales
Tagged clients, customer relations, customers, marketing, sales, sales management, small business advice
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Can You Build Your Business in Half the Time?
I had an unusual coincidence happen last week. Speaking to prospective new members of The Alternative Board (TAB), I wound up with three CPAs in the same meeting. They were from three different smaller firms, and all three identified their current … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Sales, Strategy and Planning
Tagged management, marketing, promotion, sales management
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Trimming the Customer Tree
Anyone who has shopped for a live Christmas tree knows the drill. They have some on display, but none look exactly like what you want. You start looking through the trees that are still bundled up. If one looks promising, … Continue Reading
The Man (or Woman) Who Knew Too Much
Most businesses need salespeople. Most salespeople need to know what they are selling. This leaves many owners on the proverbial horns of a dilemma. Should they hire a great salesperson and teach him the business, or should they take someone who … Continue Reading
Credibility in the Lobby
I typically visit over a dozen businesses a week. Only a few have media articles about themselves in the lobby. When I ask the others, they typically answer “Oh sure. We were written up a few years ago. I have … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Managing Employees, Marketing
Tagged marketing, media, news, promotion, public relations
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Service Needs to be a Defensible Territory
The UN air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces raise an obvious question. Why Libya? Although we believe Qaddafi is a really bad guy, there are plenty of other players in North Africa and the Middle East that have to rank somewhere … Continue Reading
The Only Thing We Have to Fear?
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” FDR famously broadcast during the Great Depression. His speech didn’t end that economic slump, and the election next week won’t end this one. It will, however, help. The Republicans are … Continue Reading
Posted in Economic Trends, Marketing and Sales
Tagged business strategy, economy, marketing, politics, sales
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Instant, perfectly targeted marketing.
I’m finalizing my speaker panel for our Fall seminar series. This season we are concentrating on marketing and sales. The recession is over, but no one can feel the “recovery.” If you are waiting for things to be busy again, you … Continue Reading
Posted in Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Technology
Tagged marketing, small business, small business advice
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Mission, Vision and Values: Weighing in on the Definition War
The other day during a continuing education class, the old argument came up again. “These are the kind of things that belong in a company’s Vision Statement,” the instructor said. “I thought they were Mission Statement kind of things,” replied … Continue Reading
You can’t keep a good saying down.
“There are lies, damn lies and statistics.” It’s a great saying, and in the USA is typically attributed to Mark Twain. He, in turn, attributed it to Benjamin Disraeli. That credit is undocumented. What is certain is that it was … Continue Reading
Advertising Effectively
I’ve heard it three times in the 24 hours since returning from my vacation; “I’m spending a lot of money on marketing, but I don’t know how effective it is.” The problem goes back for as long as there’s been … Continue Reading
Happy (tweet) Fathers’ Day (from your child via FaceBook)
My wife was working on the vacuum cleaner today. Despite my intention to be a lazy slob all day, I decided to pitch in. A short diagnosis let me do a temporary repair, and sent me to the Internet to … Continue Reading