Recent Posts
The Weakest Link
Return To Blog Listing
Marketing and Management Solutions for Small and Startup Businesses.
I Blog about the changes that are happening in Marketing and Management today. The blog serves as a newsletter both to my Clients and anyone else who wants to read.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'Management'
The Small Business Election Guide 1
The battle for the US Presidency is raging. Arguments in mainstream media are as wide ranging as they are mostly irrelevant to small business. In the end, the bailouts of major companies and the war in Iraq will affect small business owners much as t...
Going Green Has Moved From Idealism To Smart Business
In the past, companies have gone green as part of both an ideology and to send a message about their community responsibility. It’s mostly been considered an expense attributed to Marketing and Public Relations. In the past, the cost of being gree...
Your New Career 1 – Did You Forget About That Hobby?
Think your hobby can’t be turned into a business? Think again! Don’t forget to subscribe to get more of these ideas. 1. The Model Aviator Tommy was a fairly disillusioned call-center operator. He hated frustrated customers almost as much as h...
Five Things Businesswomen Need to Know
Alright, so I’m going to lose more than a few PC points here, but i keep seeing the same problems over and over, and applying the same solutions over and over seems to work fine. (I’m using that as proof positive I’m on to something. ) So take ...
8 Reasons to Quit Your Job and Start a Business
The thought has been there… That day when your boss had a bad date the evening before and your supervisor yet again proved that they have no clue what they are doing. That nagging thought that you could do something for yourself. Something ...
Online Promotions Will Not Kill Advertising
In “The Extinction of Dinosaur Marketers,” I discussed the problems of bringing the old school of hardcore sales and pushy advertising into the new online marketplace. We are starting to see a new trend blooming that is showing exactly this prob...
How To Leverage Social Media Networks
We know that social networks like Digg, Reddit, and Stumble are great for gross traffic, but often send quick stop visitors who don’t convert well to ad-clicks and sales. But how are Social Network users at converting to other social networks? ...
Powdered Baby Anyone? – Lost In Translation
Marketing professionals sometimes get it wrong. And sometimes get it VERY wrong. Here are some examples of what can happen when local talent isn’t used to verify the international meaning of words and images. Gerber- Your Choice for Ground Baby Th...
Customer Relations Is Faith Based
Why Are You Trying The Impossible? Since I always stress the importance of customer relations, I often come across a problem with the desire to measure the return on investments. Especially larger companies often try to simplify their customer contac...
Should I Promote or Hire?
Are you looking for a supervisor or manager? Should you be promoting or hiring? The simple answer is; It depends on who is on staff right now. If the best reason you can come up to promote someone is their long service or good performance in their cu...
Customer Satisfaction Sold Separately
Whenever I buy something that says "batteries sold separately." I calmly dream that this will be the store redeeming my basic faith in a company’s ability to seize the most self-evident opportunity for customer service. (I’m start...
Religious Smokers the Best Entrepreneurs
I am convinced that being religious, in combination with being a smoker is a great combination for business success. Now, before the atheists and puritans out there have a coronary, - I don’t believe its about the religion, or the tobacco. Pers...
The Weekend E-Business Mindset Guide
Are you running a small business on the side? Maybe you have a small online store, an affiliate site or a monetized blog? If you are, and it’s not making much money, it could be your mindset that’s slowing you down. If your business really is mos...
How To Distribute A Press Release
Getting Your News Out There The most time consuming part of press release marketing is to build a media list. This is why the companies that distribute press releases charge so much to do it. They have built extensive databases with every possible pi...
Customized to Perfection
Have you bundled yourself so tight you can’t move? Once upon a time…… I worked with a company that provided contracted services. The services were spanning many areas, and of course came in different bundles. I was tasked with findi...
Marketing Tip of the Day - Reward Your Referrers
Satisfied customers are your best sales force, but are you paying attention to the ones that are doing the work for you? Next time you get a clear referral, don’t miss a beat in contacting the person who gave it. Make sure that you thank them f...
Letter From A Dinosaur Marketer
I received an email today from a man, (the disclaimer at the bottom of the email clearly states that I was not allowed to discuss the content by the way) So, I won’t mention either his name or the company. I will however take my chances and tell yo...
The One Percent Rule-The Blogpreneur 6
Can You Do ONE PERCENT Better? Slow and steady wins the race, but this is a little mental trick to achieve that faster than you think. It’s the one percent rule. It works because compounding that 1% makes it incredibly powerful. The one percen...
Media Kit Secrets
If you are intending to market your business to - or through - media channels, your best friend will be a well designed Media kit. Media kits (also called Press Kits) help interested parties to find key information about you, your company and your pr...
12 Ways to Monetize your Blog - The Blogpreneur 3
A little planning. Some basic preparation, and good old fashioned hard work can turn a blog into a money maker. How much? That is really up to you and your determination. Some ways are easier than others; some will earn you more money than others. Bu...
The Extinction of Dinosaur Marketers-Part4
The New Marketing Channels Read the previous Entries: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 — So the market has changed, there is no denying that fact any longer. Now the question is how do we adapt and break in to this new marketplace? Since the traditio...
12 Steps Getting Your Blog Off To a Good Start - The Blogpreneur 2
You can still read The Blogpreneur 1 So you are still convinced that you want to try your hand at the business of blogging for money? Good for you, determination and drive are the most important aspects of any business venture. You’ll need plen...
The Extinction of Dinosaur Marketers Part3
Parts One and Two Are still available, Please remember to Subscribe to get the last part. Your New Marketing Approach - Claiming to Care is not Enough Customer Centricity has been a catch-phrase for a while now. Many businesses still fail to understa...
How to Run an Effective Sales Meeting
In Building a Power Sales Force I discussed how to manage sales teams, Today i’ll try to give some good tips on running a sales meeting. One of the sales manager’s main responsibilities is collecting and dispersing information. If your ch...
Re-Branding 101 - Changing Your Image
Attracting the Customer You Want First of all, there really isn’t a wrong customer. Any customer that buys your product or service with the right intention and can afford to pay for it is bound to be a good customer. However, your image might b...
Building a Power Sales Force
Managing a sales force is different from almost any other kind of team management. A person who is great at sales rarely if ever follow a specific mold. Since a technique or approach that works for one person is not necessarily the right for another,...
Startup Business Expenses You Can’t Avoid
Part 1 - Accounting Software I often get the question if a startup business can run their accounting in Excel or with pen and paper for now. The answer is a simple yes you can. It’s not even that hard to do. I would call it a great idea - if it...
Gas Prices Warrant a Three Day Weekend
Commuting costs are growing as the reason for employees changing jobs. With gas prices continuing to skyrocket and no end in sight, every business out there should be considering changing their schedules around and give their employees an extra day o...
CRM Software is a Waste of Money
Customer Relations Management - The name has it completely right, Customer First, Relations Second, Management Third. So why is it then that we are constantly seeing this being about the company managing their information, their leads, their sales fi...
How to deal with Late Employees
One of the hardest things I find teaching supervisors and managers is to avoid addressing problems. No I don’t mean ignoring it. I mean avoiding the urge to snap to action and leave common sense and temperance in the dust. Remember that you are...
