As part of my authenticity journey, I’m grateful to have made so many real connections. And since authenticity is the overarching theme of our relationships, it’s no surprise that some people are just naturally open, vulnerable, self-aware, and nonjudgmental with me. We fall right in sync. When I find these folks, they are my A-Listers. The […]
Who’s on Your A-List? A-Listers Are Your Big Supporters Read More »
As an introvert and someone who values establishing real connections with people, I find most professional networking events creepy. Some people show up wearing masks. Because we can’t tell just by looking who’s showing up authentically and who’s posturing, we end up having conversations with energy vampires. This, of course, leaves me feeling depleted–and like
Just in Time for Halloween: Making Networking Less Creepy Read More »
Hint: Make culture directly funded by each sale There’s a lot I could say about Buffer‘s (aka Bufferapp’s) pricing transparency and how they have budgeted for culture, as well as the impact that has on me as a prospective customer. But, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll just let this sink in:
How to Budget for Culture Read More »
Business owners, internal marketing stakeholders, and entrepreneurs might benefit from hiring a strategic marketing consultant, but often aren’t aware of the circumstances that would prompt such a decision. Also, there is a lack of understanding about the problems a marketing strategist and consultant can solve, resulting in leaders asking “Why hire a strategic marketing consultant?”
Why Hire a Strategic Marketing Consultant? Read More »
In my earlier post Firing Customers: Why and How, I referenced Collapse of Distinction: Stand Out and Move Up While Your Competition Fails. This is a book by Scott McKain and although I haven’t read it yet, he has published an informative article on MarketingProfs.com: Why You Should Fire (Some of) Your Customers. Herein, he recommends who to
The Alternative to Firing Your Clients: Better Screening Read More »
Small business owners sometimes buy print/radio advertising, social media, and other tactical marketing solutions based on the recommendations of a sales representative for those services. Because they haven’t been able to look at all available solutions and make informed decisions (without sales pressure), the owner can incur unnecessary costs, create more work, and achieve little to
How to Prevent Bad Marketing Decisions as a Small Business Owner Read More »
Although my clients typically aren’t banging the door down for process change and oftentimes are focused on other things, I’m always trying to (re-)focus on the business of doing business. This means building repeatable processes and tools to support them to lessen the workload and prevent waste. (Part of the foundations of business.) I suspect that
BPM Research, Small Business, and a Forrester Survey Read More »
Most micro and small businesses started a company website at launch in order to establish a brand identity, build credibility with potential buyers, cross temporal communication barriers, create another opportunity for lead generation or customer education, or even conduct online sales. However, as the company has grown and more information has been added, the site
How to Improve Your Small Business Website Read More »
Bob Reiss’ article, “Write Your Business Plan in Pencil” from Entrepreneur.com, has some good points about when and how small businesses might approach business plan development. Reiss advocates constructing a plan that will be flexible (hence the “in pencil” directive) but explains that “a detailed plan is only required if you want to raise money from a bank or
Re-Thinking the Business Plan Read More »
An article today in Incentive magazine covers poll results from market researcher Maritz regarding “record lows” for employee satisfaction and trust of management and coworkers based on a national sample of 2,004 full-time employees. Selected Findings 11 percent of respondents strongly agree that their managers show consistency between their words and actions 7 percent strongly agree that
Maritz: Employee Sat, Trust Critically Low Read More »