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 […]
Solving Problems
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 […]
When “A Players” Fail
I’ve been participating in a great discussion on the importance of talent. It’s an area that doesn’t get the attention needed and is critical to organizational performance. Too few managers pay the right attention to talent, both recruiting, onboarding, developing, and retaining the right people. As a result, the costs of this inattention to talent […]
What Problem is Your Customer Really Trying to Solve?
The majority of sales people, unfortunately are just peddlers—walking, talking brochures. Needless to say, customers are finding digital sources of information much more useful than talking to those sales people. The data consistently shows customers limit contact with these types of sales people to the very end of the buying process. Some few sales people […]
How Do You Recognize Transparency?
Transparency seems to be everywhere in the media lately so it has been only fitting that we have been discussing it. We’ve been studying “mea culpa” ad campaigns and how the marketplace’s expectations around transparency play a role in that. We scratched the surface of how that same expectation influences buying decisions—both from a consumer […]
