When it succeeds, a small business startup is incredibly rewarding. Together with your small team, you celebrate each success, big or small, until you realize one day that things aren’t the same as they used to be. It might be the rising sales volume, the fresh faces taking on fresh responsibilities, or even the operational […]
Solving Problems
Attract Clients and Grow Your Business by Tackling Issues Head On
Any business owner can attract clients and grow their business by tackling the issues head on. Coltyn Simmons doesn’t put up with problems in his industry, he fixes them. We chatted with him to learn about how other business owners can create solutions to their industry’s problems. As a side note, his Update Before You […]
These 5 Issues Can Bring Business to a Grinding Halt
There are numerous reasons that the business model can cough and splutter on the market. Indeed, 90% of businesses are estimated to fail within their first year. It’s important to assess why this is the case, what goes wrong and what you can do about it. By putting the right measures in place, you will […]
3 Proven Ways to Get You Through Tough Times
Editor’s Note: This article originally posted Dec. 19, 2017. In light of the difficult economic and social impacts from Covid-19, we felt it was timely to re-post now. We will get through this together. I couldn’t handle it. The pressure of closing the business, being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and in the middle […]
Most of Your Big Problems Start as Small Problems
Let’s talk about surprises. And whether to warn your superiors or your boards about these unraveling events early. You have a dashboard or KPI’s, don’t you? Every good executive has a set of critical data points that best alert him or her to the changes in the flow of business most important to note and in […]
“What Could Go Wrong?”
It seems to be human nature that we don’t want to think about what could go wrong. Particularly in sales, we are continually optimistic, we want to be positive, particularly with our customers. So why would we ever want to talk about what could go wrong? Particularly when we are in the middle of the […]
Can Your Team Overcome Messy Problems?
Some problems seem impossible to surmount Leaders and teams can be overwhelmed. We’ve all probably experienced this. Several big problems hit us at once. Or the system goes down, stranding everyone. Or worse yet, “We’ve been hacked.” Add the twist of ransomware? The inevitability of a big problem As we grow our businesses, we inevitably […]
Delivering Bad News
It’s inevitable. We are going to screw up and have to share that with our customers, prospects and in many cases, with our employees or teammates. That we will have to do it is a given. But there’s quite a bit of latitude in how we do it. In the latest security breach at Facebook, […]
Don’t Forget to Check In
I am not a fan of the restaurant manager check-in trend that seems to be the rage these days. I like the concept—a manager who is genuinely concerned with their customer’s experience but the execution leaves me wanting. I think my reaction is a negative one because it feels abrupt and insincere. There’s no context […]
3 Best Ways to Successfully Deal with Customer Complaints
For any business, customer complaints are one of the most stressful and difficult things to deal with. It’s tempting to ignore them completely, or at the very least become defensive over your brand or product. However, the trouble with this is both of these options can lead to the dreaded negative review. These days, just […]
