Without customers, you don’t have a business. And unless you're offering something that the general public has never seen or heard of before, like a self-driving car for instance, chances are that many other businesses are offering products and services similar to yours.
Think about your own responses to the advertising and promotions you receive. Much of it probably goes right past you, deflected instinctively and even unconsciously by your Ad Filtering System. Yet some messages resonate with you. They connect somehow, in ways that you're not even aware of, and you respond to the...
You have a dozen chances every day to change something fundamental in your business. It happens every time you delegate work to a member of your staff: do you manage by agreement or by accident?
What’s more important to you? A one-time purchase, or a customer with a long-term relationship with your business? Customers-for-life is the strategy and the hope behind all great brands.
When I asked Rob what he felt was missing from his life—what he finds himself wishing for—he replied, “Time. I really feel fortunate that I have most of what I want in life, but time is the missing link.”
You love a good conversation—where both participants care what the other has to say, demonstrate interest, listen, and respond appropriately. A good conversation allows both parties to reveal themselves, uncover what is important from their perspective and shared values. A good conversation offers an opportunity t...
We define business frustrations as a series of specific recurring events in your business over which you feel you have little or no control.
Almost every business owner wants more leads for their business. In fact, for many owners the need for a constant inflow of qualified leads often dominates their thinking. There are, however, many challenges to ensuring and maintaining that supply. And, in addition to the needs of today, growth objectives and prof...
If you ever want to sell your business, you need a plan. Depending on the size of your business, proper strategic exit planning can take anywhere from 1 to 7 years to do right.
No business is too small or too specialized to warrant the time and energy it takes to develop a brand. Brand building is essential for any business. A strong, positive brand is just as important for a 200-person technology company as it is for a 3-person retail shop.
The first step in any successful endeavor is defining what a win will look like once the project is complete. When an artist begins a painting, he typically has a vision in his mind of what the painting will look like when it is finished. When a football team takes the field, they know the definition of success—a ...
In our article Revisiting the EMyth we debunked a couple misconceptions about the EMyth Point of View; namely that: 1) the business owner should never do the technical work of the business and 2) every business should be franchised. But the point was that you needn’t abandon the technical work you love nor do you ...
We've received a lot of requests for an article specifically about branding as it applies to a retail business. First, a reminder: the basics of branding are similar regardless of your business. So I’ll start with some general advice then give more specific direction for branding a retail operation.
Hiring new employees is always challenging; but recruiting and hiring salespeople is even more challenging. The process is rife with great rewards along with potential pitfalls. What follows is both an introduction to the process involved in hiring high performing sales staff, but also a leaping off point for you ...
We continue our podcast series with exit planning expert and author, John Warrillow whose book Built to Sell, outlines the eight steps he says are critical to creating a sellable business.
Setting up your corporation the wrong way The goal for many small business owners is to eventually be liberated from their business. By properly creating a systems-dependent business that doesn’t rely on specific people to run it, including the owner, you’ve created the ultimate reward: freedom from your business ...
Lewis and Clark, Sears and Roebuck, Hewlett-Packard, the Wright Brothers. What do these names all have in common? Aside from being almost universally recognized, they were also incredibly successful partners. Despite the seeming preponderance of advice on the challenges and pitfalls of having a business partner, t...