How “Sales Speak” Limits Us

Every profession has its own language. It’s a shorthand that enables people in the profession to more effectively and efficiently communicate with each other and to get things done. For example, finance types talk about debits, credits, accruals, depreciation, assets, liabilities, and so forth. They have their own acronyms like A/R, A/P ROCA, EBITDA and…

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How to Use the Feel Felt Found Method

Whether you are ‘talking’ virtually or face to face, using the feel, felt, found method of communication will make you a more effective communicator. The effectiveness of your business conversations is key on the ability to connect rather than convince. Whether you are talking with a potential customer, new business associate or possible hostess, when…

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Best Smart Apps for Successful Small Business Owners

Running a business can be hectic. Using technology can be useful and assist in day-to-day operations. The first step in integrating technology the right way is in knowing which apps work best in helping accomplish what needs to be done. Here is a quick list of some that helps make tasks a little bit easier: Accounting Apps No business…

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A Tale of Two Reactions

Social media is a powerful tool, but it can also hand a brand some serious problems that need to be dealt with immediately. Your reaction can make all the difference. When you respond in real time, you can do it well, or you can stumble and fall. When a brand doesn’t deal with the ember…

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A Twist on Old School Tactics

In this era of all things digital, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to go old school and talk about some very simple marketing tactics that are often undervalued and underutilized. Best of all, neither of these ideas will dent your marketing budget. Thank you notes: When I was growing up, my…

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Why Good Contact Centers Need Both People and Technology

Most people dread calling a customer service contact center. They’d rather chew on tinfoil than try to explain to an automated voice that they want to talk to a real person, and long hold times can leave people frustrated. Despite the bad rap, contact centers are an integral part of a company’s customer relations. It’s…

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Silence is Not Golden to Your Customers

I stopped by Walgreens to pick up a prescription the other day. When I gave the pharmacy tech my name, she went to the bin marked M, flipped through the prescription box and came up empty. She didn’t say a word but just walked into the back of the pharmacy. A minute later, she came…

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Avoid Meaningless Words

From Seth Godin’s post Meaningless, published January 7… There are words that now have no meaning at all… ‘Well’ and ‘so’ have been doing this work for a long time, but add to that the more syllabic words like ironically, literally, and hopefully. And don’t forget all the adjectives, beginning with ‘very’ and ‘really’ that (ironically) make something…

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