-
Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Tag Archives: small business advice
Holiday Terminations: Scrooge or Chicken?
This year, my first holiday termination conversation came on November 20th; a bit early in the season. Like traditionalists who hold off on Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving Day, most business owners start avoiding termination announcements a few weeks before the holidays.With the Great … Continue Reading
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
2 Comments
Employee Confidentiality: Circles Within Circles
The father of a friend, a rancher in South Texas, conveys confidential information by preceding it with the following caution. “Now I’m going to tell you a secret, and you have to swear not to tell another soul. And when … Continue Reading
Business Value: Do Your Numbers Add Up?
Most small business owners don’t understand how to value their companies. For some, misunderstanding the way that buyers look at the value of your business can be very costly in the long run. The fourth of our Rights and Obligations … Continue Reading
It’s Your Money: Fighting Profit Guilt
A few weeks ago one of my peer boards was discussing the hiring of a new salesperson. One owner asked the others “What is the most important trait you look for in a new salesman?” Another member immediately burst out: “Someone … Continue Reading
More than a Feeling
This is the story of two business owners. It is true. It is real-time. Both stories occurred last week, and I was present in both conversations. The first story is one of disaster. A restaurant owner I work with was … Continue Reading
Lords of Chaos
Every business owner must be adept at dealing with chaos. Entrepreneurship demands the ability to choose a course of action when everyone else is staring into the headlights. It requires a willingness to make a decision with inadequate information, and to make new decisions … Continue Reading
Unlimited Time Off From Your Business
The second “rule” on our downloadable poster “Your Rights and Obligations as a Business Owner” is: “You have the right to unlimited time off with pay.” followed by the corollary obligation; “You have an unlimited obligation to customers. Business deadlines … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Managing Employees
Tagged business ownership, employees, leadership, management, small business advice
1 Comment
Entrepreneurs Love Paperwork
Entrepreneurs love paperwork. Not. The truth is that most entrepreneurs hate paperwork with a passion otherwise reserved for the college team that ran up the score on their alma mater year in and year out. If I want to get a guaranteed … Continue Reading
Thinking Isn’t Doing
My friend Phil owns a mobile imaging company. His employees criss-cross the major cities in South Texas in dozens of trucks outfitted with portable X-Ray and ultrasound machines, responding to calls from nursing homes and home health providers. In th beginning, … Continue Reading
Left Behind
As business owners, most of us understand that the people who help us get our company to one level may not be the folks who can get it to the next. A great salesman may not be your next sales … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Planning
Tagged financial, management, sales management, small business advice
Leave a comment
Is It All About the Money?
If you have more than ten employees, and an outside observer (like me) asks them confidentially to say in one word what their boss cares about the most, what do you think they will answer? We’d like to think that answer … Continue Reading