Archive for June, 2008
Penetrating Target Markets:Would You Use a Shotgun to Catch a Butterfly?
If you have a small business, gaining entry into your target markets can be like capturing a butterfly. What starts out as a methodical step-by-step attempt looks like a crazy dance - with you chasing a target that seems to have no predictable traits at all. In fact, it seems quite random.
And [...]
Sales Negotiation: How to Turn an Unhappy Customer into an Evangelist
Are you getting in the way of your own success?
Have you ever had a difficult customer? Someone who is deeply dissatisfied with your product or service?
At some point, every company runs into this problem. As Abraham Lincoln said, “you cannot please all of the people all of the time.”
How you choose [...]
Ad Copy - Write a Money Maker
Let’s discuss how to define and develop your target markets. Once you have identified their characteristics, take the next step and tell them why they should be your customer.
So this month, look at the do’s and don’ts of marketing communications. These communications range from newsletters, web copy, and brochures, to TV, radio [...]
Recession Proof Your Small Business: Steps to Strengthen Your Strategic Position
A recession doesn’t have to cost your business. As a matter of fact, smart business owners use recessions as a time to strategically position themselves for economic rebound.
Unfortunately, most small business owners see recessions as a time to make across-the-board cuts. They shrink payroll, hoard cash, delay product development and simply try to [...]
New Year’s Checklist
As we head into a new year, the growth of our businesses will be the focus of strategy and planning sessions for at least the first quarter. Some of you early birds will have already begun this process in December, but for others the planning starts this month.
In my experience, strategic growth springs from [...]
Ten Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Customer Relationship Management Strategy
1. Profit more from every sale . Why do you keep wasting unrealized opportunities with your customers? You could be making more profits from each sale by managing the relationship right. Cut your costs by managing each account’s productivity.
2. Sell more [...]
Looking at How the Credit Crunch will Affect Small Businesses
Already we are seeing the results of the demise of the mortgage market due to the sub prime debacle. Lending banks have severely tightened lending criteria as their asset bases erode and the financial sector comes under huge pressure. Wall Street does not like to see 2.5 billion dollar write offs from Morgan Stanley [...]
Get BIG or Stay small
However, that paradigm changes as you grow your company because growth requires people - people who will change the way things are done, especially the decision process. And, it’s often been said, “business would be easy if it weren’t for people.” So, one of the most important skills you need, as the entrepreneur in charge [...]
