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Tips for a More Productive Day
Feeling overwhelmed? Learn how to break down your goals into digestible, daily steps. Those of you familiar with Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People will recognize the term Quadrant II manager. This ideal manager recognizes that time spent on the important but non-urgent aspects of her business are the most vital for success. The Quadrant II manager spends time during the work day on long-term planning, developing relationships and training staff to take on delegated tasks. Note that she spends virtually no time answering e-mail, plowing through an inbox or attending meetings. Read More at Entrepreneur.com
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Radio Listening up in RADAR 99
Radio reaches more than 234 million persons age 12+ over the course of a typical week, according to the RADAR 99 report which releases Tuesday. The latest national cumulative audience to radio is up from the 232 million persons age 12+ reported a year ago in the December 2007 RADAR 94 report. Read More at Radio Business Report
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Smart Sales: When Sales 101 Isn’t Enough
Reps who lack advanced selling skills are at a major disadvantage. When you think about it, we’re all after the same goals—winning more business, sooner, and at higher contract values and margins. To that end, it appears there’s no shortage of sales training programs for companies seeking to improve their teams’ selling capabilities. Yet with most companies we’ve worked with or researched, there are distinct gaps among the skill sets of their salespeople. They’re well equipped to carry out certain tasks, but woefully unprepared for others. Read More at ManageSmarter.com
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Five Don’ts for Marketing in Tough Times
Unpredictable. Slow. Bleak. Grim. Gloomy. All words that have been used to describe the economic outlook for the balance of 2008—and depending upon who you talk to, the scenario for 2009 and beyond. Read More at Business Week
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Five Tips for Women to Gain Customer Trust
Many things, such as your appearance, language, or work habits, can either encourage trust or alienate your customers. The following tips are easy ways for women in business to gain client trust and confidence. Read More at All Business
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How Brands Thrived During the Great Depression
Companies can and do prosper during times of economic turmoil. Take a lesson from brands whose Depression-era advertising strategies were key to their survival. I have heard anecdotes over the years of great companies founded during recessions. What do GE, Disney, HP and Microsoft have in common? They were all startups during steep declines in the U.S. economy. Read More at iMedia Connection
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10 Signs That You’re an Uninspiring Boss
As confidence in workplaces dims because of turmoil in the financial markets and uncertainty about the economy, now is the time for leaders to step up and communicate more, not less, as mediocre leaders tend to do in periods of uncertainty. Of course, before you can commit yourself to becoming the type of boss people want to follow, you must recognize the qualities of bosses who fail to elicit enthusiasm. What are some signs of an uninspiring leader? Read More at Business Week
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Three Common Closing Mistakes
Successful entrepreneurs are often natural at sales. But closing a tough sale requires more than a winning personality. As any sales veteran will tell you, closing can be tricky, and there are many places where a false move can delay or derail a sale. You can boost your odds of completing the deal simply by avoiding these three classic closing mistakes. Read More at All Business
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How To Trick Out Your Small Office
So you have a business plan, some start-up capital and even a few willing clients. But no matter how inherently mobile your business is, you still need a central battle station from which to run things, be it off-site or in your basement. Tricking out a new small office–from furniture and computers to phone systems and even a healthy toy or two–is a serious chore. For entrepreneurs who set up shop at home, there’s the additional challenge of creating an authentic, office-like atmosphere. Read More at Forbes
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7 Time-tested Ways to Dig Out from a Recession
Scan the headlines each day and you won’t have to get very far to stumble upon the word recession or its more palatable cousin “economic downturn.” It’s times like these that send many small business owners on a quest for the magic recession fighting marketing tip. Today I would like to share my top seven quick fix marketing strategies with the caveat that you understand nothing beats building a marketing system based on a narrowly defined ideal customer and core message of differentiation. Read More
