While conducting a meeting with front-line managers at a small business, I said, "The customer is not always right." One of the leaders of the company disagreed with me. I asked him if a customer ever asked for products or services that wouldn't help them, anything unethical or illegal, or demanded work not in the [...]

What a business shouldn't share on social media should not come as a surprise. Social media rules for business are the same for any media a company uses, not only SM. There is no one size fits all formula that fits the needs of every business. However, there are some basics, and they begin with [...]

Instead of Top "Ten Social Media Marketing Mistakes", I almost titled this post “MY Top Ten Social Media Marketing Mistakes” because although I haven’t made every one of these—I've come close. I’ll take that further; I continue to make mistakes, which gives me the opportunity to learn. Ain't it great? Every day I’ll see someone [...]

Would you buy from you? It's a good question. Unfortunately, it's not one that most businesses consider. However, businesses are richly rewarded when they take the time to think about how their processes affect their customers. It's a step towards becoming a customer-centric organization, a better company with a loyal customer base. So, would you [...]

There are a bazillion articles, tutorials, analyzers, and videos on how to write an elevator pitch — so why one more? I have a slightly different perspective, which I’ve found to be successful. The elevator pitch (EP) theory is, when introduced, there is very little time to capture someone’s attention. How to Write an Elevator Pitch The [...]

So, who makes a good salesperson? I googled this question and got over 6 million results. And, as it’s easy to do, I floated off to the blog-o-sphere, happily reading away, away, away. Is there an echo in here? Much of what I found was as I expected. I didn't expect the general opinion to [...]

Are your sales and marketing on the same page? Are you certain? When sales and marketing work together, forming one team with collective goals based on mutually beneficial outcomes and driven by shared activities, they reach their goals and more. Does that sound like your sales and marketing teams? Do your sales and marketing teams [...]

It's the time of year when people think about sales goals. Businesspeople discuss monthly, quarterly, and year-long goals for the coming New Year. Salespeople look at potential new business and how to outperform last year's numbers. But what are realistic sales goals? I've said before. You Cannot "Do" A Goal – You Can Do Activities. To [...]

Here are 4 ways to keep clients happy in this day and age. Does the world seem to be speeding up? Is it because I’m older, or are things faster than 5, 10, or 15 years ago? The pace of new information is nearing light speed. Does the ever-increasing access to information make customers more [...]

So, how critical is it to keep selling during the holidays? A few minutes ago, I saw a Facebook post from the co-owner of an agency where some friends work. They shared this, "Sometimes you go three months without signing a new contract. And then sometimes you land five exciting contracts in one week. You [...]