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Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Tag Archives: promotion
Resisting Technology
A substantial number of business owners are still resisting technology. Clearly, they can’t be doing so in the expectation that it will go away. The only possible rationale is that it could hurt their business. One laggard in adopting technology … Continue Reading
How Much Does that Gorilla Weigh?
How much does that (fill in your preferred number here) pound gorilla weigh? I always refer to an 800 pound gorilla, but I’ve heard others use everything from a 400 pound gorilla (which is pretty close to their real size) to … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Sales, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, marketing, new business, promotion, public relations, sales, sales management, small business, small business advice
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History Begets Attitudes
History begets attitudes. I’m back from my biannual depressurization trip. This time it was to Central Europe. As always, I assess new and different things through a business owner’s eye. We visited five countries (Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary), … Continue Reading
Posted in John's Opinions, Leadership
Tagged business, business ownership, business strategy, economy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurship, international relations, leadership, management, marketing, promotion, public relations, sales management, small business, small business advice, trade
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Employees Who Make Bad Choices
Employees who make bad choices in their personal lives usually create problems in the workplace. Should you take their issues outside of the business into consideration when hiring or assigning responsibility? The legal answer of course, is “no.” Employers are … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, promotion, small business, small business advice
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The New Information Direction: Push Over Pull
Ever since we started using computers in virtually every business, we’ve been putting data into them. Unfortunately, the issue has been getting information back out. In the middle 1980’s I ran a manufacturing company together with a couple of Australians. They thought … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Managing Employees, Marketing and Sales, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, financial, leadership, management, marketing, media, new business, promotion, sales, sales management, small business, small business advice
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What Does HR Do?
What are the roles of a Human Resources professional in your organization? A common rule of thumb is that a company should have a dedicated HR function once it reaches 80 employees or so. This post comes from a recent meeting of … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Incentives, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, health care costs, hiring, leadership, management, promotion, public relations, small business, small business advice
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Small Businesses Fantasies: Service
As an evangelist for small business, I am the consumer equivalent of the locally-grown food movement. I spend as much of my discretionary income as possible with the owned-and-operated businesses in my area. As a consultant and coach to owners, I also … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees, Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Sales
Tagged business ownership, business planning, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, marketing, media, promotion, public relations, sales, sales management, small business, small business advice
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“Congratulations — You are the Low Bidder!”
The sentence that titles this post could be defined as the epitome of mixed emotions for a business owner. You won the business, but only because you are willing to work for less than everyone else. Perhaps you deliberately cut … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Sales
Tagged business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, hiring, leadership, management, promotion, public relations, sales, sales management, small business, small business advice
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The Quest for Recurring Revenue
Recurring revenue is the current Holy Grail of business. Barriers to Entry, a traditional way of assessing your differentiation against competition, have been replaced by Barriers to Exit, how to make it at least inconvenient or at most excruciatingly painful for … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Economic Trends, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Sales, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, economy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, marketing, new business, promotion, sales, sales management, small business, small business advice, startups, trade
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When Supervisors Become Managers
Any promotion means more responsibility. Few steps require as big a leap as the transition from supervisor to manager. Each step up the ladder involves a change in tasks, but an employee’s first managerial position necessitates a change in thinking; one which isn’t … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Incentives, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, management, promotion, small business, small business advice
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“Everyone has Gotten So Rude!”
Not too long ago, I was leading a group of business owners in a discussion. These were not my peer board members, but rather owners at a breakfast, none of whom I’d met before. To start the conversation, I asked … Continue Reading
Do Titles Make Leaders?
You’ve promoted a great employee beyond his capabilities. He is putting in long hours, but appears unable to keep up with the new responsibilities. In fact, he doesn’t even seem to understand what those responsibilities are, or what they should … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurship, financial, hiring, leadership, management, promotion, sales management, small business, small business advice
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