Characteristics of an Effective Team

Whether it’s a band, a sports franchise or a company, chemistry is what makes teams great. Much of modern business thinking is centered on understanding what makes great teams tick. More often than not, effective teams share the following five characteristics.
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Conflict is Unavoidable

Most conflict occurs because of a lack of clarity in communication, so I feel it is important to address here. Expect conflict. Learn to deal with it. Anytime there’s more than one person, you’re bound to find conflict. It’s only natural. We all have separate backgrounds, different tendencies, and unique perspectives. It’s no surprise we disagree from time to time.
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Business Essentials: The Importance of Strong Communication Systems

Companies have a number of different options when it comes to addressing their telecommunications needs. Providers of business phone systems are able to offer a wide array of useful communications technologies to their clients. Many of these technologies can serve to significantly increase the efficiency of a business, and allow for a higher level of customer service.
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Being Clear with Expectations

Few things are as frustrating as working for a manager who gives you an annual review and tells you all the things she thinks you should have been doing during the past year. How is this information helpful now? The year is over. Why weren’t these expectations expressed earlier?
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Sending Unsubscribed Email Hurts Your Brand

As if keeping up with emails isn’t challenging enough, I find my inbox filled with new promotional messages (SPAM) every day. And, no, I’m not talking about scams from overseas con artists. I’m talking about North American companies and start-ups that believe their products and services will be valuable to me as a blogger/marketer.
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Focused Sales Presentations

One of the basic tenets of sales you should keep in mind is that people don’t want what something is, they want what it does. As the famous example goes, nobody wants a quarter-inch drill; what they want is a quarter-inch hole. People want what your product or service does, not what it is.
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3 Steps to Create a Local Communication Strategy

Becoming the friendly neighborhood national company requires business owners to create a niche communication strategy—one that joins the conversations already taking place in the community and provides clear solutions for the community members’ everyday challenges, needs and aspirations.
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