Posts Tagged ‘Solving Problems’
Strategist? No, Please—Not Me
I don’t want to be a strategist. Yeah, like you, I like to be a thinker. I like analysis. And strategy sounds cool. But the term strategist is too much pomp, arrogance, a relative of using utilize instead of use, or at that point of time instead of then.
Read More The Wrong Hero
If you want your marketing messages to translate into sales at premium prices, tell stories in which customers and prospects can experience the joy of your offerings—even if they haven’t tried them yet.
Read More Focus on the Customer, Not the Money
Striving to take your business to the next level of success? Perhaps it’s time to refocus. Stop worrying so much about the sale, and just take care of the customer. Whether the customer is buying right now or not, if you deliver the best service you can, eventually the sale will come.
Read More Agility: The New Currency of Growth
Whether you are David and Goliath, Blockbuster and Netflix, the Encyclopedia Britannica and Google, agility is the new currency of growth. There’s more bad news for the heavyweights because even when they LOVE the lumbering giant, the little guy can unwittingly bring him down.
Read More 5 Steps to Deal with Business Downtime
Unexpected downtime can happen at any time and accidents happen, though we should note that they should always try to be mitigated. Firstly, as it says on the back of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, “Don’t panic.”
Read More The Secret Weapon of the Innovator
If you are a successful entrepreneur or intrapraneur, you are probably an “idea guy” or work with one of these dangerously endearing men or women. Let me introduce you to someone who may be the ultimate idea guy to show you why ideas alone are not enough. (And what’s lacking, as you will see, goes far beyond just execution.)
Read More How Many Innovations Are Carefully Planned?
Most innovations come from responding to a customer’s needs, or finding a niche where products need improvement or extension. It is rare to innovate using a blank sheet of paper in a room with bare walls and no other contributors.
Read More Imagine Making a Sales Call Without Mentioning the Product
We want to meet customers, we’re excited about what we have to sell, we just need someone willing to listen to us. But customers have changed. They don’t care. They really don’t want to hear about our products.
Read More Sometimes You Have to Scramble
Making sure you have a plan is important. But what’s even more important is being ready to adjust and change your plan when you encounter reality. The same scrambling ability that helped me in my football career has proven its worth again and again in my businesses, too.
Read More What to Do When Customers Don’t Pay
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a frantic new business owner. One of his clients—a very large company—had an outstanding invoice that was 90 days past due. Concerned and cash-strapped, he wanted to know what he should do.
Read More