Ditch Hustle-and-Grind Sales Tactics and Get Real

a well earned business handshake

Just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean we’re tied to using it forever. It’s time for those of us in business to leave hustle-and-grind sales tactics in the dust where they belong. So many professionals today rely on this approach, including referring to human beings as “prospects.” This term is a product of…

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5 Key Strategies to Expressing Your Authentic Self in Business

Consumers want to support brands they see as authentic and share their values. Here are a few ways you can creatively express—and distinguish—yourself digitally. The American dream of “owning a business” is alive and well in 2022, with an estimated 5 million new businesses expected to incorporate this year. Like so many others that preceded…

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How to Be Authentic as a Small Business Owner

I want to tell you a secret. It’s been the sort of month where unprompted, people have shared their secrets with me. I feel overwhelmingly privileged to listen to the deep-seated fears, sadness and joy that weighs on their hearts and just hope that in some small way, sharing with me, eases their day a…

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Honestly It’s About Honesty

I can remember being in one of my undergrad advertising classes and the professor told us about a recent study that measured the trustworthiness or honesty of various professions. Keep in mind, this was 30+ years ago but I can still see the slides he used to show us the results. The least trusted professional was the…

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Insincerity is Not Good for Your Brand

I love it when employees really adopt their company’s brand and make it their own. That’s one of the ways you know that your brand has really woven itself into the culture of your organization. But it rarely happens by accident. In any brand process, part of the process should be about helping your employees understand and internalize…

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Branding: The Inside-Out Rule

Branding is one of those marketing terms that everyone uses but very few actually embrace. When companies try to brand themselves, they often suffer from the “can’t accurately describe the bottle from inside the bottle” reality. One of the other huge threats to a branding effort is when a company does not follow the inside out rule. Disregarding…

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What is an Authentic Brand and Why Should You Care?

Authenticity is important to your brand, whether you represent a small-medium business, nonprofit organization, or yourself as an individual. It’s more than a buzzword says a new global study by Cohn & Wolfe, a global communications agency. Its 2016 study on authenticity defines what consumers believe are the individual attributes of authentic behavior and whether a brand displaying these…

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