Business Basics

Your website is great – too bad your business sucks

January 14, 2011

This is the story of a locally owned business with a fabulous website.   The website “worked” – it brought a new potential customer into the store and the staff went to work to make sure that a potential new customer  left – never to return. Our story begins many years ago when  I purchased [...]

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Keys to Success in Business

December 10, 2010

I absolutely ADORE Denny Hatch.  I subscribed to his email newsletter Denny Hatch’s Business Common Sense YEARS ago and he has yet to disappoint.  Every month he regularly delivers on the promise of “Business Common Sense” promised in his newsletter’s name and continues to generously share his wisdom and experience with his newsletter subscribers.  In [...]

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Customer Reviews Set Consumer Expectations

June 7, 2010

Expectations of your business will literally shape the whole consumer experience for your customers.   This is nothing new. In my post, “Social Media – It’s a Moral Imperative” I wrote about how a movie’s marketing campaign painted an unrealistic expectation of being a comedy – and then delivered scenes of horrific violence and very little [...]

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Overcome Business Fear of Sharing

April 27, 2010

It’s not uncommon for people who sell their knowledge and expertise to  fear that if they give too much information away – that they’ll eliminate their potential client’s need for their services. When it comes to sharing your knowledge and expertise – the more you give, the more you get.  The more you share knowledge [...]

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Are you a young bull or an old bull?

April 14, 2010

“Softly softly, catchee monkey” is an idiom thought to have its origins in the early 20th century.  The saying  is a shorthand way of advocating  patient, careful and stealthy strategic planning. There’s a popular parable which illustrates the importance of planning and patience called “The Story of Two Bulls“. There are two bulls walking side [...]

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Social Media is Consumer Controlled Conversations

April 7, 2010

Ah the “buzz” around social media is burning like a wild fire out of control – it’s the bright shiny bauble of our time.  Everywhere you turn there’s another guru offering yet another “product” promising to provide everything you need to know to harness the power of social media and magically build your business.  The [...]

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Old school “selling” strategies fall flat in a social media world

March 31, 2010

Old school selling strategies were very “push” oriented.  Push – Push – Push: Buy-Buy-Buy. The communication methods associated with “old school selling” are very “one way”.  The business talks AT a prospective customer via traditional media sources – and the customer has two alternatives:  buy or don’t buy. Then – a new school of selling [...]

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Before you spend one penny on an AdWords campaign….

November 23, 2009

Before you spend one penny on an AdWords campaign – take a walk with me – a customer – through the whole “searching for a product or service” on the internet. Yesterday – my clothes dryer quit working.  While draping my clothes over the railing of the upstairs over look is an option, it’s not [...]

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Are your customers wearing tin foil hats?

November 19, 2009

In Business Building Strategy: The most important question of all…, I suggested that the word”why” can turn a simple complaint into an essential business building strategy question.  Sometimes – a series of very mystifying actions can have their root in a very simple disconnect which can be quickly and easily discovered by simply asking “Why?” [...]

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Business Building Strategy: What will you do to get their money?

October 30, 2009

I’ve been doing a lot of individual work with clients and a phrase I’ve been using a LOT lately is…. “What are you willing to do to get their money?” It’s easy to blame those idiot customers for not being smart enough or willing to work hard enough to do business with you. You know [...]

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