When the Customer Doesn’t Respond the Way You Want Them To

This afternoon, the phone rang, I picked it up, “Hi, this is Dave Brock.” Clearly, there was a sales person on the line, she said, “May I please speak to Dave?” (You can see this call going south already.) When I responded it was me, without taking a breath, she launched into a 97 second…

Read More

Employers May Give Employees Tax-Free Disaster Relief

If they carefully follow the guidelines, employers may give cash payments to employees for disaster relief, tax-free. Under Sec. 139 of the Internal Revenue Code, qualified disaster relief payments to employees are tax free to the employee and deductible by the employer. This includes income as well as social security and Medicare taxes. Three rules…

Read More

6 Keys to a Great Name for Your Business

Picking the perfect name when you start a business is an essential step on your entrepreneurial journey. It needs to be done first before you begin your logo design. Whether you want a funny name like, The Codfather (Fish & Chips), or something more serious like, Fresh Look Painting, your organization name does not just…

Read More

Understanding Small Business Web Hosting for New Biz Owners

If you’ve just started a new business, or are planning to, your list of tasks to complete is probably already pretty long. I really don’t want to stress you out by giving you something else to worry about, but choosing the right webhost can make all the difference to your success in the critical first…

Read More

Halloween Marketing Ideas

Creative Halloween Marketing is #45 on our list of direct sales booking ideas and is something I struggle with every year! How do you take advantage of this great opportunity to put your literature in the hands of many without being a Halloween Grinch?! Share your Halloween marketing ideas in the comment section below, please! Halloween Marketing to…

Read More

Discover This New Free Tool to Maximize Your Cash

Cash is king. That’s one of the important lessons Jeff Bezos ­ the wizard of cash flow, has taught the business world over the last decade or so. But to maximize cash flow and other key performance indicators, you need to understand how all the moving parts of your company’s financial ecosystem are working together. When you…

Read More

12 Steps to Improve Your Customer Experience

Employee engagement and exceptional customer service play a critical role as a competitive advantage in the business landscape. Great customer service built on a foundation of high employee engagement isn’t a revolutionary concept. More companies are recognizing just how important a deliberate and intentional customer-focused culture is, but few companies do it well. Here are…

Read More

Want Your Sales Pitch to Stand Out? Follow These 4 Tips

As a busy entrepreneur, I receive dozens of emails in my inbox daily, mostly from people who are trying to pitch me on their products or services. I move the majority of them into the trash without even giving them a second glance. But every once in a while, I get a gem of an…

Read More

Use These 4 Tips to Run Your Business While Traveling

Many people start businesses because they want the freedom to be their own boss. Similarly, many people travel the world because they want the freedom of seeing different countries and cultures. So it may seem that a logical idea would be to combine the two and run a business while traveling the world as a…

Read More

Gratitude Magnified

Last week we explored the idea of how smart businesses recognize that gratitude isn’t just a worthy emotion – it’s smart marketing. Everyone wants to be appreciated and today, when businesses must compete for both customers and employees, it’s an important retention tool. We covered how to create a spirit of gratitude inside your organization…

Read More