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Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Tag Archives: sales management
Branch Mentality and Sanctuary Cities
Every multi-unit company suffers from branch mentality. I’ve worked with many, and no matter how much they promote a corporate culture and team spirit, branch mentality creeps in sometimes. It comes in two versions; the outposts’ attitude and the headquarter’s … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, Boomer Bust, business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, politics, public relations, sales management, small business, small business advice
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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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Maximize Resources – Use What You Have
Every owner wants to maximize resources. The whole concept of profitability is based on doing the most with the least, but we often are trapped in the prevailing thought pattern about how things “should” be done. When taking a car … Continue Reading
Posted in Economic Trends, Entrepreneurship, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, sales, sales management, small business, small business advice
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Good Customers Can Be Bad
When can good customers be bad? What could be wrong with a customer who buys a lot, pays promptly, and never has a service problem? They might be buying too much. No matter how strong or comfortable a sales relationship is, … Continue Reading
Posted in Building Value, Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Exit Planning, Marketing and Sales, Sales, Selling a business, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, Boomer Bust, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, exit planning, exit strategies, leadership, management, sales, sales management, selling a business, small business, small business advice
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What is Your CEO Job Description?
On occasion, a business owner client will ask me if I have a CEO job description. I’m sure such exist in large corporations, but for an owner-managed company it’s a bit vague. The simple (and usual) answer is that the … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, sales management, 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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Help Your Friends, Not Your Competitors’
I hear it all too often. “A customer just called us for a quote. They have always done business with our competitor. We’re going to give them our best deal, and see if we can take their business.” Before you … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Sales, Sales, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, marketing, new business, sales, sales management, small business, small business advice, trade
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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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What’s in Your Leadership Golf Bag?
This is one of those posts that more or less insists on being written. Last week I started talking about the pronouns that help to define leadership styles. I felt that clearly I needed to bring in Daniel Goleman’s work … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Incentives, Leadership, Managing Employees, Sales, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurship, hiring, leadership, management, 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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