Spinning Plates? Here’s Why Your Small Biz Needs CRM
Are you a small business owner worried about the quality of your customer service? Not sure how to improve it without dropping the ball in other areas of your business? Here’s how to choose a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program or service that empowers you to reach and interact with your clients and customers like…
Read MoreA Personality-Based Approach Leads to More Sales
One of the most effective ways to be a successful salesperson is to use a client-centered approach to sales. That means tailoring your sales presentation to suit the personality and specific needs of the client. Often salespeople aren’t as successful as they could be because they use the same canned presentation with all their clients.…
Read More7 Indicators of Employee-to-Entrepreneur Potential
As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, and having graduated from a big company myself, I talk to many people who have spent years struggling up the corporate ladder who dream of jumping ship and becoming an entrepreneur. I typically suggest that the grass always looks greener on the other side, and the move from employee…
Read MoreThe Customer Experience is Evolving
Social media and texting are having a profound impact on the way customers and companies communicate. There have been some studies done by Hailo, a taxi app and by the Pew Research Center. These statistics that have been published by Andrew Prokop indicate findings that suggest the evolution. These findings include: Text messages represent the…
Read MorePerseverance with Knowledge is the Key to Success
It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill.” ~Wilbur Wright I cannot overstate how important perseverance is when starting and running a business. However, to be truly successful and reap the fruits of your hard work, perseverance must be combined with knowledge. I just finished reading David McCullough’s book about…
Read MoreSelf-Assessment: Will Your Startup Get Angel Investment?
Is your startup a good candidate for angel investment? If you can’t answer “yes” to the four questions here, then it probably isn’t. Angel investors are as hard to predict as any other group of individuals, all operating in their own self-interest. There are about a quarter of a million angel investors in the U.S.,…
Read MoreLearning to Scale: The Secret Growth Weapon
Anyone involved in running a startup or small business knows you’re bound to run into unanticipated problems at some point. One of the most common problems that many small businesses encounter is their inability to scale; either efficiently or at all. As companies grow, management may find that they need a scalable means to distribute…
Read MoreHow to Engage in Content Marketing Like the Big Boys
Here’s a terrific opportunity to educate your customers in a big way and at the same time show your expertise. Write an eBook on your specialty. This doesn’t have to be the size of a novel, it just has to be rich enough to cover what’s important for them to know. It gives you the…
Read MoreHow to Add Inspiration and Aspiration to Your Brand, Part 2
In keeping with “How to Add Inspiration and Aspiration to Your Brand – Part 1,” today’s post (Part 2) focuses on the second important feature of a strong brand – aspiration. When you listen to the presidential debates and town halls, have any of the candidates shared their visionary objectives for America? These are their aspirations—policy…
Read MoreHow to Promote Your Small Business Event
Hosting live events for consumers to attend has powerful results for companies. In fact, a recent study conducted by the Content Marketing Institute found that 75 percent of B2B marketers rate live events as the most effective content marketing tactic and 67 percent of B2C marketers find live events to be the second-most effective strategy.…
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